After the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, King Henry II commissioned a stone bridge across the Thames river with a chapel dedicated to Thomas Becket as martyr. The Chapel of St Thomas on the Bridge became the official start of pilgrimage to his Canterbury shrine. King Henry's bridge, built 1176-1209, was re-built in 1760 by Sir Robert Taylor and George Dance the Younger. Although demolished in 1823, 4 of the original 14 stone alcoves survive in London: two in Victoria Park in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, one in the Inner Quadrangle Of Guys Hospital and one in the gardens of a 1930s block of flats, Courtlands, East Sheen. The Taylor and George Dance bridge was replaced by Sir John Rennie's granite London Bridge which was sold to Robert P McCulloch, founder of Lake Havasu City, AZ, in 1968. The current London Bridge was opened by Queen Elizabeth on 15 March 1973. - AsNotedIn
Place | Locale | Type | AsNotedIn |
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Alcove From Old London Bridge |
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Fishmongers Hall |
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Old London Bridge Stone Alcove |
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Old London Bridge Alcove, Guys Hospital |
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Rennie's London Bridge Archway |
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