History:

The significance of the poem is vague. Most noticeably, it relates to the a lot of difficulties experienced in bridging the River Thames: London's previous bridges did certainly "wash away" before a bridge built of "stone so strong" was constructed. It has been suggested that the "fair lady" who is "locked up" is a allusion to an old practice of burying a deceased virgin in the foundations of the bridge to make sure its strength through supernatural means, though this more believably refers to Queen Eleanor. Interestingly, the poem is not restricted to England and variants exist in a lot of additional western and central European countries.

The nursery rhyme may have had significantly more antiquated antecedents. In 1013, London Bridge was burned down by King Ethelred and his Norwegian ally Olaf Haraldsson in a bid to split the invading armed forces of the Danish king Svein Haraldsson. The event was recorded in the Saga of Olaf Haraldson, part of the Heimskringla composed approximately 1225 by Snorri Sturluson.

The first allusion to the rhyme appears to be in a play of 1659, and it is recorded as being linked with kids by 1720. The first recognized book dates from a little afterward, appearing in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (circa 1744). It is probable, though, that it was by now well-recognized by this time. However, the well-liked account almost certainly originates from 1269, when Henry III established the tolling right to Queen Eleanor. She is the "fair lady" who remarkably failed to use the ensuing money on actually maintaining the construction.