Morice's waterwheels and associated machinery were destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 (no description remains), but replacements engineered by his grandson remained under the bridge until the early 19th century. In 1731, a description of the machinery was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The three waterwheels worked a total of 52 water pumps; the wheels could turn in either direction and so be driven by the flowing and ebbing tide; and the pumps were designed to force 132,120 gallons an hour to a height of 120 feet. "These water-works, a cumbrous-looking structure of wood, stood on the Middlesex side of the Thames, adjoining the bridge, and near the site of Fishmongers' Hall steam-boat pier."