Editing London Bridge (section)

===New London Bridge (1831–1967) <span class="anchor" id="New London Bridge"></span><span class="anchor" id="1831"></span><span class="anchor" id="New (19th-century) London Bridge"></span><!-- * See talk section "Anchors" * -->===
<!--Linked from [[Thomas Telford]]-->
{{multiple image
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 | image1  = ‘Old London Bridge - sketched on the spot’, William Alfred Delamotte - 30 March 1832 (cropped).jpg
 | caption1  = The remains of the bridge, as sketched by [[William Alfred Delamotte]] on 30 March 1832
 | image2  = Clarkson Stanfield (1793-1867) - The Opening of New London Bridge, 1 August 1831 - RCIN 404711 - Royal Collection.jpg
 | caption2  = ''[[The Opening of New London Bridge]]'' by [[Clarkson Stanfield]], 1832}}
[[File:New London Bridge under construction (1826).jpg|right|thumb|New London Bridge under construction, by [[William Henry Kearney]], 1826]]
In 1799, a competition was opened to design a replacement for the medieval bridge. Entrants included [[Thomas Telford]]; he proposed a single iron arch span of {{convert|600|ft|m|-1}}, with {{convert|65|ft|m|-1}} centre clearance beneath it for masted river traffic. His design was accepted as safe and practicable, following expert testimony.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1857|title=Article on Iron Bridges|journal=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Preliminary surveys and works were begun, but Telford's design required exceptionally wide approaches and the extensive use of multiple, steeply inclined planes, which would have required the purchase and demolition of valuable adjacent properties.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Life of Thomas Telford|last=Smiles|first=Samuel|date=October 2001|isbn=1404314857}}</ref>

A more conventional design of five stone arches, by [[John Rennie the Elder|John Rennie]], was chosen instead. It was built {{convert|100|ft|m|0}} west (upstream) of the original site by Jolliffe and Banks of [[Merstham]], [[Surrey]],<ref>A fragment from the old bridge is set into the tower arch inside St Katharine's Church, Merstham.</ref> under the supervision of [[John Rennie the Younger|Rennie's son]]. Work began in 1824 and the foundation stone was laid, in the southern [[coffer dam]], on 15 June 1825.{{citation needed|date=February 2013}}
[[File:London Bridge (Cornell University Library).jpg|thumb|left|New London Bridge, {{Circa|1870–1890}}]]

The old bridge continued in use while the new bridge was being built, and was demolished after the latter opened in 1831. New approach roads had to be built, which cost three times as much as the bridge itself. The total costs, around £2.5 million (£{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|2500000|1831}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}),{{Inflation-fn|UK}} were shared by the [[British Government]] and the [[Corporation of London]].

Rennie's bridge was {{convert|928|ft|m|0}} long and {{convert|49|ft|m|0}} wide, constructed from [[Haytor]] granite. The official opening took place on 1 August 1831; [[William IV of the United Kingdom|King William IV]] and [[Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen|Queen Adelaide]] attended a banquet in a pavilion erected on the bridge. The northern approach road, King William Street, was renamed after the monarch and a [[Statue of William IV|statue of the king]] subsequently installed.

[[File:London bridge 1927.jpg|thumb|New London Bridge in 1927]]

In 1896 the bridge was the busiest point in London, and one of its most congested; 8,000 pedestrians and 900 vehicles crossed every hour.<ref name="world and its people"/> To designs by engineer [[Edward Cruttwell]],<ref name="Cruttwell">{{Cite web |title=About Edward Cruttwell |url=https://heritage.towerbridge.org.uk/about-edward-cruttwell/ |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=Heritage - Tower Bridge |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=21 December 1900 |title=The Widening of London Bridge |work=The Engineer |pages=613–614}}</ref> it was widened by {{convert|13|ft}}, using granite corbels.<ref>A dozen granite corbels prepared for this widening went unused, and still lie near Swelltor Quarry on the disused railway track a couple of miles south of [[Princetown]] on [[Dartmoor]].</ref> Subsequent surveys showed that the bridge was sinking an inch (about 2.5&nbsp;cm) every eight years, and by 1924 the east side had sunk some three to four inches (about 9&nbsp;cm) lower than the west side. The bridge would have to be removed and replaced.

====Sale to Robert McCulloch====
{{main|London Bridge (Lake Havasu City)}}
[[File:London-Bridge-March-1971.jpg|thumb|right|[[John Rennie the Elder|Rennie]]'s New London Bridge during its reconstruction at [[Lake Havasu City, Arizona]], March 1971]]

Common Council of the City of London member Ivan Luckin put forward the idea of selling the bridge, and recalled: "They all thought I was completely crazy when I suggested we should sell London Bridge when it needed replacing."<ref>{{Cite web|date=27 March 2002|title=How London Bridge was sold to the States|url=https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/169982.how-london-bridge-was-sold-to-the-states/|access-date=1 March 2021|website=Watford Observer|language=en}}</ref> Subsequently, in 1968, Council placed the bridge on the market and began to look for potential buyers. On 18 April 1968, Rennie's bridge was purchased by the [[Missouri]]an entrepreneur [[Robert P. McCulloch]] of [[McCulloch Oil]] for US$2,460,000. The claim that McCulloch believed mistakenly that he was buying the more impressive [[Tower Bridge]] was denied by Luckin in a newspaper interview.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/archive/2002/03/27/Hertfordshire+Archive/5754223.How_London_Bridge_was_sold_to_the_States/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116071636/http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/archive/2002/03/27/Hertfordshire+Archive/5754223.How_London_Bridge_was_sold_to_the_States/|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 January 2012|title=How London Bridge was sold to the States (From This Is Local London)|date=16 January 2012}}</ref> Before the bridge was taken apart, each granite facing block was marked for later reassembly.[[File:The London Bridge in Lake Havasu City (27698161465).jpg|thumb|Rennie's New London Bridge rebuilt, Lake Havasu City, 2016]] The blocks were taken to [[Merrivale, Devon|Merrivale]] Quarry at [[Princetown]] in [[Devon]], where {{convert|15|to|20|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} were sliced off the inner faces of many, to facilitate their fixing.<ref>{{cite web|title=London Bridge is still here! – 21 December 1995 – Contract Journal<!-- Bot generated title -->|url=http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/1995/12/21/27226/london-bridge-is-still-here.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506144638/http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/1995/12/21/27226/london-bridge-is-still-here.html|archive-date=6 May 2008}}</ref>  (Stones left behind were sold in an online auction when the quarry was abandoned and flooded in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|title=Merrivale Quarry, Whitchurch, Tavistock District, Devon, England, UK|url=http://www.mindat.org/loc-1521.html|website=www.mindat.org}}</ref>) 10,000 tons of granite blocks were shipped via the [[Panama Canal]] to [[California]], then trucked from [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]] to [[Arizona State University|Arizona]]. They were used to face a new, purpose-built hollow core steel-reinforced concrete structure, ensuring the bridge would support the weight of modern traffic.<ref name=Elborough2013>
{{cite book
 |last=Elborough |first=Travis
 |year=2013
 |title=London Bridge in America: The tall story of a transatlantic crossing
 |pages=211–212
 |publisher=Random House
 |isbn=978-1448181674
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EW_YhRYKxlcC&pg=PA211
 |access-date=30 July 2014
}}
</ref> The bridge was reconstructed by Sundt Construction at [[Lake Havasu City, Arizona]], and was re-dedicated on 10 October 1971 in a ceremony attended by London's Lord Mayor and celebrities. The bridge carries the McCulloch Boulevard and spans the Bridgewater Channel, an artificial, navigable waterway that leads from the Uptown area of Lake Havasu City.<ref name=Wildfang2005>
{{cite book
 |first=Frederic B. |last=Wildfang
 |year=2005
 |title=Lake Havasu City
 |pages=105–122
 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing
 |place=Chicago, IL
 |isbn=978-0738530123
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_5bdQIrEzQC&pg=PA107
 |access-date=2 May 2013
}}
</ref>