Is Tower Bridge the 'famous' London Bridge in the nursery rhyme London Bridge is Falling Down?

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Penfold

London Bridge and Tower Bridge are two different bridges. Tower Bridge is the iconic bridge with that everybody recongnises as being in London. London Bridge is the next bridge along the Thames from Tower Bridge as you come in from Essex and the North Sea.

London Bridge was sold to some rich American thinking he was actually buying Tower Bridge. The London Bridge he bought now spand Lake Havasu on the Arizona/California border in the US.

London Bridge was one, if not the first, bridge to be built to cross the river connecting the north and south. During the original construction, London Bridge did collapse on numerous occasions killing a good few people. The nursery rhyme stems from this.

manxbiker

London bridge is falling down
Nursery Rhyme
Lyrics, History and Origins
Nursery Rhyme History

The Wooden Bridge
The 'London Bridge is falling down' Nursery Rhyme is based on the one of the most famous landmarks in London. It's history can be traced to the Roman occupation of England in the first century. The first London Bridge was made of wood and clay and was fortified or re-built with the various materials mentioned in the children's nursery rhyme. Many disasters struck the bridges - Viking invaders destroyed the bridge in the 1000's which led to a fortified design, complete with a drawbridge. Building materials changed due to the many fires that broke out on the bridge.
The Stone Bridge
The first stone bridge was designed by Peter de Colechurch and built in 1176 and took 33 years to build and featured twenty arches the dimensions of which were sixty feet high and thirty feet wide and was complete with tower and gates. The flow of the Thames under the bridge was used to turn water wheels below the arches for grinding grain. By the 1300's the bridge contained 140 shops, some of which were more than three stories high. ( The reference to Silver and Gold in the rhyme relates to the trading which was conducted on the bridge). London Bridge survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 but its arches and foundations were weakened. (Buildings with thatched roofs were banned in London following the Great Fire of 1666 and this ban was only lifted with the construction of the New Globe Theater in 1994 - the following website is highly recommended for further details of the Globe william-shakespeare.info
The Modern Re-builds!
In the 1820s a new London Bridge was built on another site, north of the old one. This new bridge opened in 1831 and the old bridge was demolished. In the 1960s yet another London Bridge was built. The London Bridge of 1831 was transported, stone by stone, to Lake Havasu in Arizona, USA.
NB There is another Nursery Rhyme called 'London bridge is broken down' - its origins relate to Queen Anne Boleyn - fascinating! And for other surprising revelations about Executions, Torturers and Lord Mayors check out London Bells a Nursery Rhyme containing the original lyrics to Oranges and Lemons!

Tower Bridge is Tower Bridge.
London Bridge is London Bridge.

I hope that clears that up for you.

islandmonkey

Tower bridge is the first bridge you will see if arriving in London from the river Thames.
London bridge is the next one along.

Facile Princeps

No London Bridge and Tower Bridge are two different bridges

No, London Bridge is not the Tower Bridge. The London Bridge was actually sold and moved to Lake Havasu, Arizona (because it was falling down). So if you want to see it, go to Arizona!

Bo Peep

Here's a pic of tower bridge...Tower Bridge is one of the most recognisable London landmarks but a lot people get the name wrong, calling it London Bridge. London Bridge is the next bridge west along the River Thames. http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.solarnavigator.net/geography/geography_images/london_tower_bridge.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.solarnavigator.net/geography/london_tower_bridge.htm&h=459&w=674&sz=26&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=McXcHaJN3z2RqM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=138&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtower%2Bbridge%2Blondon%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

And here is London Bridge....as you can see, it is no longer falling down lol.
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.houseboathavasu.com/images/london_bridge.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.houseboathavasu.com/london_bridge.htm&h=623&w=753&sz=88&hl=en&start=26&tbnid=xqyQpsbRDDOd6M:&tbnh=117&tbnw=142&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlondon%2Bbridge%26start%3D18%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Velvet

Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, which gives it its name. It has become an iconic symbol of London. Tower Bridge is one of several London bridges owned and maintained by the City Bridge Trust, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation.
Tower Bridge is sometimes mistakenly referred to as London Bridge, which is actually the next bridge upstream

itsalivingthing

I'm pretty certain that rhyme isn't about Tower Bridge, simply because, despite it's beauty, it is actually one of the more recent bridges over the Thames in London, having been built in the 1890s - - -and I'm reasonably sure that this rhyme predates its construction - quite possibly by several centuries.

The CURRENT London Bridge is very new (mid-1970s - as you may know the old one was sold to a town in the USA, I think, Arizona, who seemed to be confused about Tower Bridge and London Bridge too). However, it stands on the site of the earliest bridge over the river in London (hence its name): so the poem refers to one of the older bridges on this site.

foreign people call Tower bridge as London bridge
local people only know the differences

Angel

No, Tower Bridge is still in London, England,

Where has London Bridge is now in The U.S.A.

native c

Absolutely!

GodKillsAkitten

nope tower bridge is that big one that stands on the thames.

london bridge was sold many years ago n now stands in the carribean islands somewhere

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