The children’s nursery rhyme ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’ was first published in the mid 1700’s though its origin’s probably lie further back in the Middle Ages.
If there had been social media at the time you would have said that the nursery rhyme must have gone viral, because everyone worldwide seems to know it.
But who knows why it was sang?
There are a few theories of course, but my favourite is the legend of how good Vikings once saved London from bad Vikings.
The story goes like this.
Back in the day, Anglo Saxon London was under attack from marauding Danish Vikings under their ruthless leader Olaf Haraldsson. The Danes had set up camp in Southwark just south of the river and were attacking across London Bridge – which would have just been a wooden bridge in those days.
The Anglo Saxons defenders were fighting to hold every inch of the bridge but the weight of the attack was forcing them back. All seemed lost when suddenly Viking Long Boats were spotted coming down the Thames. At first the English thought these were more Danish Vikings, but they turned out to be Norwegian Vikings under good King Olaf who were allies of the Anglo Saxons. Olaf’s men, seeing that the Norwegians had nearly got right across the bridge, tied ropes to the wooden supports and rowed as hard as they could, forcing the bridge to collapse and the attacking Norwegian Vikings to fall into the river.
How much of this is true is open to debate, but King Olaf is certainly revered in these parts, with the dedication of six churches that bear his name.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia. Detail from en:Image:Panorama of London by Claes Van Visscher, 1616.jpg, made in 1616 by Claes Jansz. Visscher. It shows Old London Bridge in 1616, with Southwark Cathedral in the foreground. The spiked heads of executed criminals can be seen above the Southwark gatehouse.
