Why does the City boundary do odd things on the bridges?
The Square Mile is not all north of the river. The City has two bridgeheads across the water, where Blackfriars Bridge and London Bridge make land. This is shown on most accurate maps, and backed up by the presence of City dragons at the southern ends of these bridges.
But see what happens to the boundary at Southwark Bridge. It stops half way across. The Square Mile and Southwark shake hands mid-water. The same is true of Millennium Bridge, the two railway bridges, and Tower Bridge (where the boundary is between Tower Hamlets and Southwark).
I've always wondered why. So I asked the City Bridge Foundation, who maintain most of the bridges of the Square Mile. The answer — like much to do with the City — is complex and layered. Here's their explanation in full:
"The whole of London Bridge and a small portion of land it stands upon on the southern shore has always been within the boundary of the City. In his famous Survey of London written in 1603, John Stow writes that the boundary of the City ward of Bridge Within ‘beginneth at the stulpes [posts] on the South end by Southwarke’ (sic) and this is confirmed by ancient wardmote books. This portion of City land south of the river was known as St Olave’s precinct, after the now demolished St Olave’s Church.
"There was in later years some confusion as to where the boundary lay, and for many years it was incorrectly marked on Ordnance Survey maps as being the centre of the bridge. Any confusion over this was put to rest by the London Bridge Act of 1967, which confirmed that the whole of the newly rebuilt bridge would lie within the City. [Note: Not all confusion has been put to rest. Both Google Maps and OpenStreetMap show the boundary through the middle of London Bridge.]
"The whole of Blackfriars Bridge is within the City of London by virtue of the Blackfriars Bridge Act of 1756 which states that ‘the whole of said Bridge shall be deemed to be within the parish of St Ann Blackfriars in the City of London.’
Why are London Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge the exceptions to the normal rule? As noted, London Bridge was always wholly within the City and presumably City planners followed this precedent when the first Blackfriars Bridge was built in 1769.
The same didn’t apply to the other three bridges as they were either outside the City boundary, in the case of Tower Bridge, or in the case of the original iron Southwark Bridge, designed by John Rennie the elder, and Millennium Bridge, they were originally built by other organisations and only subsequently taken over by Bridge House Estates, now known as City Bridge Foundation.
Does it matter?
Well, no, not for most purposes. But occasionally, these boundary anomalies do throw up some unusual circumstances. For example, Tower Bridge received Listed status twice. In 1946, the Southwark half of the bridge received Grade I protection, whereas the Tower Hamlets side had to wait until 1973.
For a brief time in 2014, the two halves of Southwark Bridge were governed by separate speed limits (20mph and 30mph), reflecting the preferences of the City and Southwark, respectively.
With thanks to the City Bridge Foundation for assistance with this article.
