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View Full Version : London Bridge - The Original one

RobertP
10-10-2006, 19:19
I've been going through my USA pictures looking for ones that I can stitch together into panoramas. Came across these whilst looking (no panos here though :) ).

Thought they might be of interest. There is a lake in the middle of a largly desert area in Arizona. The lake has a large town (Lake Havasu City) growing beside it and a resort complex which is on a peninsular that sticks out into the lake. It looks like they thought it would be a good idea to make a cutting through the peninsular and put a bridge over it. I guess it could be a genuine island but the proportions look wrong to me. We stayed on this island and access to it was via the imported London Bridge.

I can remember being on the bridge just before it was dismantled and shipped to America. It looked familiar when I saw it - albeit a lot cleaner.

Out of place or what!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.peacock53/talkp/lb1.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.peacock53/talkp/lb2.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.peacock53/talkp/lb3.jpg

The stones were still marked with numbers used for re-assembly!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/r.peacock53/talkp/lb4.jpg
kamion
11-10-2006, 15:56
Pretty neat! :) I've never been on the original London bridge! (Actually, I didn't know there was an original London bridge!)

Must've taken some great effort to ship it all over there and reconstruct it!
Dark Star
11-10-2006, 16:02
Rumour has it they thought they were buying Tower Bridge....
chewyuk
11-10-2006, 17:02
Rumour has it they thought they were buying Tower Bridge....

You know, I'm sure there's more than an element of truth in that ....
PaulBoy
11-10-2006, 17:53
You know, I'm sure there's more than an element of truth in that ....
taken from Wiki ...
On 18 April 1968, Rennie's bridge was sold to the American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch of McCulloch Oil for the sum of $2,460,000. (It has been claimed that he was under the mistaken belief that he was buying the much more impressive Tower Bridge, which is often erroneously thought of as 'London Bridge' by tourists, though McCulloch himself strongly denied this.) The bridge was reconstructed at Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and dedicated on October 10, 1971. Not all of the bridge was transported to America, as some was kept behind in lieu of tax duties.
Paul ;)
Rich
16-10-2006, 18:10
Nightmare Jigsaw :lol:
shiato storm
18-10-2006, 10:36
wonder what happens if you're left with a few pieces spare...?!
Marcel
18-10-2006, 14:36
Or it rained before the chalk numbers came off :nuts: Impressive feat to shift it like that but I can't help feel a little saddened that something like that was sold off to another country...(Even though I've only ever been to London once..lol)
Arkady
22-10-2006, 15:34
Rumour has it they thought they were buying Tower Bridge....

I heard that at the time as well - may be apocryphal, but funny nontheless.

Septics make me laugh...if only they weren't so bl**dy dangerous...
Witch
22-10-2006, 15:54
So much nicer than the current one too! Thanks for sharing!
matty
23-10-2006, 17:37
very cool, and an interesting story to go with it.