Bridge is a small
ward in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
and is named from its closeness to
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...
. Since boundary changes in 2003, Bridge is bounded by the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
to the south; Swan Lane and
Gracechurch Street to the west;
Fenchurch Street
Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate office ...
to the north; and Rood Lane and Lovat Lane to the east.
The ward includes
Fishmongers' Hall
Fishmongers' Hall (sometimes shortened in common parlance to Fish Hall) is a listed building, Grade II* listed building adjacent to London Bridge. It is the headquarters of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, one of the 110 livery companies of ...
,
St. Magnus-the-Martyr church, the
Monument to the Great Fire of London
The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known simply as the Monument, is a fluted Doric column in London, England, situated near the northern end of London Bridge. Commemorating the Great Fire of London, it stands at the junct ...
, and the full span of London Bridge.
Bridge Within and Bridge Without
The present day ward of Bridge was historically (1550-1978) known as Bridge Within — a separate ward called
Bridge Without existed south of the Thames in
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
with its own
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
between 1550 and 1978. In 1550 the new ward of Bridge Without was created to cover the city's area of control of three
manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
s in Southwark (the newly acquired
King's Manor and Great Liberty added to the
Guildable Manor which it had controlled since 1327), the Court of Aldermen appointing its alderman; there were never any members of the Court of Common Council elected there as the three Courts Leet of the Manors fulfilled that representative role. The existing ward north of the river became Bridge Within.

However, the city's administrative responsibility for the Without ward had in practice disappeared by the mid-
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
as various aspects of metropolitan government were extended into the neighbouring areas.

Despite the fact that the area of Bridge Without had been removed completely from the city's boundaries in 1899, the ward continued to ''
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...
'' exist and the Court of Aldermen continued to appoint an alderman for the ward by
co-option
Co-option (also co-optation, sometimes spelt coöption or coöptation) has two common meanings.
It may refer to the process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manage opposition and so maintai ...
, usually the senior emeritus Lord Mayor (or father of the city) until as late as 1978 — Bridge Without was then merged with Bridge Within, to become the present day Bridge ward. This is, in a sense, a return to the situation prior to 1550. However the ward is still officially referred to as "Bridge and Bridge Without" as a result of the 1978 amalgamation. This had no practical effect in terms of representation on the Court of Common Council because Without had never had Councilmen.
"Without" and "Within" denote whether a ward, or a division of one, fell outside or within the
London Wall
The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London. It has origins as an initial mound wall and di ...
— this is still the case for the wards of
Farringdon Within and
Farringdon Without
__NOTOC__
Farringdon Without is the most westerly Ward of the City of London, its suffix ''Without'' reflects its origin as lying beyond the City's former defensive walls. It was first established in 1394 to administer the suburbs west of Ludgat ...
— though in this instance Bridge Without fell beyond the gates on London Bridge, rather than London Wall itself. The full span of London Bridge was for many centuries lined with buildings, including many houses, and they formed part of the ward of Bridge Within. Indeed, so numerous were the dwellings on the bridge that at one time it constituted three of the 14 precincts (a former sub-division of the wards) of Bridge Within.
[''A Topographical Dictionary of England'', Samuel Lewis, 1831, p 134]
The area of the former Bridge Without ward today forms part of the
London Borough of Southwark.
Politics
Bridge is one of 25
wards in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
, each electing an
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
to the
Court of Aldermen and commoners (the City equivalent of a
councillor
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
) to the
Court of Common Council of the
City of London Corporation. Only electors who are
Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand.
Bridge and Bridge Without currently elect two commoners to the Court of Common Council.
External links
Ward Club Ward Newsletter- Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)
- Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)
Corporation of LondonPresent Day Bridge Ward Boundaries
Bridge Ward Club
References
{{City of London
Wards of the City of London