Despite the grand plans, John Rennie’s bridge did not survive as long as Peter de Colechurch’s. The bridge had already sunk 12 inches at the southern end on completion and it continued to sink unevenly by an inch every eight years, not being able to cope with modern day traffic.

In the 1960s plans were beginning to be made to replace the structure by a modern bridge. The Rennie bridge wasn’t redundant though. The British Government knew its beautiful design could be well used somewhere less busy, so it was put up for sale.

 

Arizona’s bid for London Bridge

Over in the USA, entrepeneur and founder of Arizona, Robert McCulloch, decided he wanted the bridge as a landmark for his city. He put in the winning bid and plans were drawn up to move and rebuild the bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It was not an easy task. Each piece dismantled was marked with four numbers indicating the exact position and row it had come from, to help on rebuild. It was discovered however whilst dismantling the bridge, there were already code numbers on each stone when it was originally built – Rennie must have used the same system.