[Illustration: SAXON CHURCH, SEVENTH OR EIGHTH CENTURY, BRADFORD-ON-AVON] The original building of the bridge cannot be discovered. As long as we know anything of London, the bridge was there. For a long time it was a bridge of timber, provided with a fortified gate--one of the gates of the City. In the year 1091 the Chronicler relates that on the Feast of St. Edmund, the Archbishop, at hour of six, a dreadful whirlwind from the south-east, coming from Africa--thus do authors in all ages seize upon the opportunity of parading their knowledge--"from Africa!" all that way!--blew upon the City, and overwhelmed upwards of six hundred houses and several churches, greatly damaged the Tower, and tore away the roof and part of the wall of St. Mary le Bow, in Cheapside. During the same storm the water in the Thames rose with such rapidity and increased so violently that London Bridge was entirely swept away. [Illustration: SCULPTURED ANGEL, SAXON CHURCH] The bridge was rebuilt. Two years afterwards it narrowly escaped destruction when a great part of the City was destroyed by fire. Forty years later it did meet this fate in the still greater fire of 1135. It was immediately rebuilt, but I suppose hurriedly, because thirty years later it had to be constructed anew. Among the clergy of London was then living one Peter, chaplain of a small church in the Poultry--where Thomas à Becket was baptized--called Colechurch. This man was above all others skilled in the craft and mystery of bridge-building. He was perhaps a member of the fraternity called the Pontific (or Bridge-building) Brothers, who about this time built the famous bridges at Avignon, Pont St. Esprit, Cahors, Saintes, and La Rochelle. He proposed to build a stone bridge over the river. In order to raise money for this great enterprise, offerings were asked and contributed by king, citizens, and even the country at large. The list of contributors was written out on a table for posterity, and preserved in the Bridge Chapel. [Illustration: VIEW OF INTERIOR OF SAXON CHURCH, SHOWING VERY REMARKABLE CHANCEL ARCH AND ENTRANCE]