"London Bridge Comes Tumbling Down"

[pirwany]

Why do Americans call Tower Bridge, "London Bridge?" They have the nursery rhyme "London Bridge comes tumbling down" when as we know it is Tower Bridge that does it. What is the historical reason behind it, if any?

[Clanad]

To us Americans, the "London Bridge" that was purchased and moved to Lake Havasu, Arizona in 1968 is sometimes confused with the Tower Bridge you reference. "Our" London Bridge 183, and moved, as noted, stone by stone and still stands.

Is there not a London Bridge now near to Tower Bridge?

As to the nursery rhyme, most sources say there was a post-Roman structure built in the middle ages but was burned down in 1013 by King Ethelred to divide the forces of the advancing Danish king Svein Haraldsson. T S Eliot used the first two lines of the rhyme in his famous poem The Waste Land...

[Clanad]

Meant to say, "... Our London bridge was built in 1831..."

[Pentalpha8]

London Bridge and Tower Bridge are two completely different bridges . London Bridge is the next bridge upstream from Tower Bridge. We always sung London Bridge is falling down . Never heard of Tower Bridge is falling down..
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/london-bridge-is-fall ing-down.htm
The nursery Rhyme goes back donkeys years.
Tower Bridge as it stands now wasn't opened until 1894 .

[kempie]

As far as I am aware Tower Bridge has never tumbled or fallen down. The bascules are raised and lowered around 1000 times per year to enable shipping to pass.

[Mr Veritas]

The bridge in the nursery rhyme is London Bridge,not Tower Bridge.
The very old 16th Century Old London Bridge had shops on it.with accomodation above.It was very badly built and shops/houses on it were constantly falling into the river,hence the nursery rhyme.

This picture may explain more:~
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.c om/~nrg1/OldLondonBridgeRoyalChristmasCard.jpg

It is an urban myth that the guy who bought London Bridge(to re#errect in Arizona) thought he was getting Tower Bridge,he was to astute a business man to make that mistake!

[jno]

I believe the Vikings pulled London Bridge down during one of their invasions (it was the only bridge at the time) and this is sometimes given as the source; but that must have been long before the nursery rhyme began.

[pirwany]

Thank you for all your answers. But it doesn't explain why Americans confuse Tower Bridge with London Bridge. The American businessman who bought London Bridge admitted on a BBC Radio interview that he thought he was buying Tower Bridge but realised his mistake too late.

[jno]

has the mistake actually been confirmed, pirwany? It's always been a bit of an urban legend that there was a mixup over the bridges, but I didn't realise anyone had admitted it was true.

As to why the mixup, I imagine it's easy enough: think of a bridge in London and Tower Bridge is the most likely one to come to mind. The others are all pretty ordinary; if even a Londoner looked at photos of them he'd have trouble telling one from another. The famous London Bridge, with the houses on it and the traitors' heads on spikes, vanished long ago.

[pirwany]

Yes. I heard the interview all those years ago and it was reported in the newspapers of the time. That American made the mistake of mixing up Tower Bridge with London Bridge as I am afraid all Americans do. We know our bridges. Barnes Bridge is very beautiful.

[Margaret007]

I always belived the London Bridge this song was about burned down during the Great fire of London in 1666, it was made of wood and had house and shops across it.

[pirwany]

Dear Mr Veritas. That businessman admitted his mistake in a BBC Radio interview himself. He was not as astute as he thought. Americans are not as intelligent as they think. they ask us some of the silliest questions when they visit UK. For example it was in the papers recently that they often ask why we build ruined castles!