The Sun.
London, England, 1825-06-16 00:00:00

LONDON BRIDGE.

CEREMONY" OF LAYING THE. FIRST STONE OF
'RUE NEW LONDON BRIDGE.
• Lk archer Particulars.]
This is one of those public occurrences which
may be considered an event in a man's life, and an epoch in a
city's history—a sort of station in one's worldly journey, from
which we measure our distances and dates. To witness the
manner and the moment in which is laid down the first single
resting stone of a grand nationalstructure— the very origin of
the existence of a massive and magnificent pile, which will re-
suire years to complete, and ages to destroy, has an elevating
and sublime effect on the mind..
Great public works are the truest signs of a nation's prospe-
rity and power ; originally its grandest ornaments, and ulti-
mately the strangest proofs of its existence. Its religion,
language, arts sciences, government, and history, may be
swept into nothingness; but yet its national buildings will re-
main entire through the lapse of successive ages—after their
very founders are forgotten—after their local history has become
a mere matter of conjecture. The columns of Palmyra stand
over the ashes of their framers, in a desert as well of history as
of land. The palaces of imperial Rome are still existing,
though her religion, her very language, is dead ; and the his-
t tory of the man-wrought miracles of Egypt bad been looked at
but as the very dreamings of philosophy long before Napoleon
I said to his Egyptian Army—" Prom the summits of these
pyramids forty centuries are looking down upon you."
Of all public edifices, a bridge is
.the most necessary, the
most generally and frequently useful—open at all hours and to
all persons. It was_ probably the very first public building.
Some conjecture that the first hint of it .was taken from an up-
rooted tree lying across a narrow current. What a difference
between that first natural bridge andebe perfection of pontifical I
1 architectuie=the vast, solid, and splendid Waterloo—the
my W
mo-
, numenrum si yum of John Rennie. e feel pleasure in
1 learning that the New London .Bridge has been designed by
the genie distinguished Architect. It falls to the lot of the son
I to consummate the plans of the father—we hope with equal
success, and with similar benefits, as well to the conductor as
Ito the public. . .. •
. .
Old London Bridge, for which the new one is intended as a
more commodious substitute, was the first that connected the
Surrey and Middlesex banks. it was built originally of wood,
about 800 years ago, and re-built of %tope in the reign of King
John, 1209, just two years after the Chief Civic Officerassurned
the title of Mayor. Until the middle of the last century, it was
crowded with houses, which made it , very inconvenient to the
passengers. The narrowness and inequality of it* arches have
caused it to be compared to " a thick wall, pierced with small
uneven holes, through which the water, dammed up by this
clumsy fabric, rushes, or rather leaps, with a velocity extremely
dangerous to boats and barges." Of its nineteen arches, none,
except the centre, which was formed by throwing two into one,
is more than 20 feet wide. This is but the width of each of the
piers of Waterloo Bridge. It is the most crowded thoroughfare
urLondon, and, in this point,. exceeds Charing-cross, which,
according to Dr. Johnson,,was overflowed by the full tide of
human existence. It has been calculated, that there daily pass
over London Bridge 90,000 foot passengers, 800 waggons, 300
carts• and drays, 1,309 coaches, 500 gigs and taxed carts, and
800 saddle horse. The importance of this great point of com-
munication, and the necessity of rendering it adequate to the
purposes of its construction, are proved, by the numbers to
whom it affords a daily passage at present, and still more, by
the probable increase of numbers hereafter. The present
bridge having been for some years considered destitute of
the proper facilkies of transition for passengers as well as for
vessels, an'Act of Parliament, passed in 1823, for building. a
new one, on a. scale and plan • equal to the other modern im-
provements' of the metropolis. The first pile of the works
was driven en the west side of the present bridge, in March
1824, and the first coffer-dam having been lately finished, the
ceremony of laying the first stone of the New Bridge was fixed
for yesterday.
The morning was ushered in by the ringing of the Church
bells, and other jeyeus demonstrations, and the City pre-
sented one of the gayest scenes a e have seen for some time ;
every window that commanded a view of the procession, and
house-tops, were lined with elegantly dressed females, wav-
ing their handkerchietin &c. as it passed. The scene on the
River was truly delightful ; for, owing to the auspicious state
of the day, the watery surface was covered with pleasure
boats, filled with beauty and fashion, and many were provided
with bands of music. Every barge and other craft from which
a view of the proceedings could be caught was occupied by the
multitude, who obtained their places on payment of a fee. The
houses on Fish-street-hill, and those at the foot of the Bride in
the Borough, were all fitted up with seats, filled with company,
who paid from 2s. fid. to 15s. a hzay.l'f9r the accommodation.—
The vessels below Bridge hoisted their colours topmast high,
in honour of the occasion. At twelve o'clock the barrier at the
City-foot of the Bridge was thrown open, and the company, who
were provided with tickets for the coffer-dam, were admitted,
and Icept arriving in"quick successtcn. The children belonging
to the Wards' Schools, Candlewick, Bridge, and Dowgate,
were placed in the coffer-clam, and sang " God save the King"
in very pretty style, on the company being seated.
At one o'clock the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs arrived at Guild-
hall, the persons engaged in the processi.on having met at a much
earlier hour.
• The Lady Mayoress and a select party went to the coffer-dam
in the Lord Mayor's private state carriage.
The Royal Artilery Company arrived in the CoUrt-yard of
the Guildhall at two o'cloelc. •
The carriages of the Members of Parliament and other Gen-
tlemen, forming part of the procession, mustered in Queen•
street and the Old Jewry.