|
Tube: Monument. Until 1750, London Bridge was the only bridge across the Thames. The Romans were the first to build a permanent crossing here, but it was the medieval bridge that achieved world fame: built of stone and crowded with timber-framed houses, it became one of the great attractions of London (there's a model in the nearby church of St Magnus the Martyr). The houses were finally removed in the mid-eighteenth century, and a new stone bridge erected in 1831; that one now stands in the middle of the Arizona desert, having been bought for $2.4 million in the late 1960s by a gentleman who, so the story goes, was under the impression he had purchased Tower Bridge. The present concrete structure, without doubt the ugliest yet, dates from 1972. The only reason to go anywhere near London Bridge is to see the Monument (daily 10am-6pm; GBP1.50), which was designed by Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666. Crowned with spiky gilded flames, this plain Doric column stands 202 feet high, making it the tallest isolated stone column in the world; if it were laid out flat it would touch the bakery where the Fire started, east of Monument. The bas-relief on the base, now in very bad shape, depicts Charles II and the Duke of York in Roman garb conducting the emergency relief operation. The 311 steps to the viewing gallery once guaranteed an incredible view; nowadays it is somewhat dwarfed by the buildings around it.
Your Tip for London Bridge and the Monument
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to London Bridge and the Monument - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to London Bridge and the Monument - visit the main London Bridge and the Monument forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the London Bridge and the Monument webguide section below! Thanks.
| 
