London Bridge

This is a magic lantern slide which has been partly colourised. The slide dates from the late 1880s and shows the view from the south bank looking towards the north bank on the upstream side of London Bridge. Hardly anything in the image which is made of brick or stone survives today except for the Monument, top right. The Fishmonger's Hall shown centre left from is from 1834 and was seriously damaged during the blitz and later rebuilt. The 1831 London Bridge is now at Lake Havasu City in Arizona and the buildings in King William Street are no more. The paddle steamer which has just left London Bridge Pier on the south bank belongs to the River Thames Steamboat Company who operated on the Thames between 1885 and 1889. The name of the steamer is difficult to read but I think the name may begin with a "C" and as there were only two boats whose names began with a "C", I think that this may be the "Camelia". She was built for the Woolwich Steamboat Company probably in the 1860s and then passed to the London Steamboat Company in 1876. After service with the River Thames Steamboat Company she survived until 1895 when she was removed from the Mercantile Navy list.

Done