London Bridge

London Bridge. University of Victoria Library.

This engraving of London Bridge in Shakespeare's time -- shown here in two images, with the left side on top and the right on the bottom -- shows the extensive buildings on it, the grisly show of the heads of traitors at the Southwark end (bottom right), and the large footings that held the bridge. The narrowness of the space between the footings meant that the tide rushed through rapidly when it was changing, to the danger of shipping.