212

London Bridge Corkscrews

Significant London Bridge facts are:

AD 46: The first bridge across the

Thames in the London area was built by

the Romans on the present site. It was

made of wood.

1014: The bridge was burned down by

King Ethelred (the inspiration for the

nursery rhyme

London Bridge is Falling

Down

).

1091: A storm destroyed a rebuilt bridge.

1136: Fire destroyed a rebuilt bridge.

1176: Construction of a stone bridge began and was completed in 1208.

1824-1831: A new bridge was built 100 feet upstream from the old bridge.

1832: The old bridge was torn down and eventually the oak and iron pilings were

removed. That's where the corkscrew part of story

begins.

This corkscrew appears in the1981

Corkscrews for

Collectors

by Watney and Babbidge with these details:

―

...in a unique rachet-and-pawl design by J. Ovenston of

Titchfield Street, London, for which he used oak and iron

taken from a pile that was 650 years in the foundations of

London Bridge. The old structure was demolished in

1831, when the new bridge was opened by King William

IV. Presumably this corkscrew dates from about that

time and, if so, both the bow springs and the ratchet and

pawl predate the patents for these mechanisms, in the

latter case by twenty-five years.

‖

The photo caption notes that the corkscrew has an

inscription stating that it was made from a pile in the

foundations of the bridge.