View of the River Thames and the City of London taken from the South Bank at Southwark, with old London Bridge, and the Pool of London

The building of old London Bridge was begun in stone in 1176. It was constructed of nineteen small arches and a drawbridge at the Southwark end. In 1305 the head of William Wallace was put up above the portico of the gatehouse, and so began a gruesome tradition of displaying the heads of traitors on the bridge. Among those who suffered this posthumous humiliation were Thomas More, Bishop Fisher and Thomas Cromwell. At the Restoration, King Charles II rode over the bridge to reclaim his throne in a triumphant procession, and the next year the practice of displaying traitors' heads was discontinued. Houses on the bridge were first recorded in 1201 and by the date of this picture, were frequently seven storeys tall. They were removed between 1758-62 and the bridge renovated. A new bridge of five stone arches was built upstream of the old bridge in 1823-31 by Sir John Rennie.

The cityscape in this picture shows the rebuilding of the City following the Great Fire of 1666. St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by Wren and begun 1669, had not yet been completed. The Golden Cross (365 feet tall) had been erected on the outerdome but the roof had yet to be finished.