Dark Origins – London Bridge is Falling Down
Posted: September 22, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized 53 Comments
I grew up playing a children’s game to the tune and lyrics of London Bridge is Falling Down. The game I played was similar to the actions for Oranges and Lemons which involves two players holding hands and making an arch with their arms for a single file line of players to walk under. At the end of the song the arch is lowered to ‘catch’ a player.
There are two dark hypothesis for the origins of this nursery rhyme.
The first hypothesis is that the rhyme relates to the supposed destruction of London Bridge in 1014 by the Olaf II Haraldsson, later known as Saint Olaf, who was the King of Norway from 1015 to 1028.
This supposition is derived from the translation of the Norse saga, the Heimskringla, by Samuel Laing in 1844 which includes a verse which is reminiscent of the common version of the London Bridge is Falling Down nursery rhyme as follows:
London Bridge is broken down. —
Gold is won, and bright renown.
Shields resounding,
War-horns sounding,
Hild is shouting in the din!
Arrows singing,
Mail-coats ringing —
Odin makes our Olaf win!
However, this one verse is not corroborated by any other information or accounts.
The second hypothesis relates to the practice of entombing someone within a structure due to the ancient belief that a human blood sacrifice would ensure the stability of the structure. This centuries-old practice is called immurement.
In the context of this nursery rhyme, the immurement is believed to be about starving children who were ‘buried alive’ as the Old London Bridge was built in the 1200s.
A final option, is that the nursery rhyme alludes to the pair of fires that London Bridge suffered in 1633 and 1666. The first fire, significantly damaged the structure and weakened it. The Great Fire of London was different in that the bridge acted more like a fire break and stopped the fire from travelling into the south of London. With its 19 narrow arches, the bridge impeded river traffic and flow and structural changes were undertaken to upgrade it. These changes were not that successful and the bridge needed continuous and expensive repairs. In 1831 the New London Bridge was open and survived until it was replaced in 1972. The bridge was transported and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
Extract from Through the Nethergate
One of the ghosts in my supernatural fantasy novel, Through the Nethergate, is immured. Katherine ran away from her life as a novice in Bungay Priory in 1376. When she was recaptured, she was immured in the walls of the Abbey of Coldingham. This is the relevant extract:
“What happened to you after you escaped? You must have died badly if you are a ghost?”
“I was caught,” Katharine said simply. She didn’t seem surprised by the question.
“My escape became the subject of a denunciation by the Bishop of Norwich, Henry le Despenser, and a consequent order from King Henry II for my capture. Once caught, I was to be forcibly returned to the priory.”
“That didn’t happen, did it?” said Margaret.
“No, I was caught and, when it was discovered that I was with child, I was immured.”
Margaret didn’t recognise the word “immured” and stared at Katharine blankly.
“A small niche was carved out of the wall in the Abbey of Coldingham, where I had been taken. I was given some food and water and then my grave was sealed.”
“If you died in Coldingham, why is your ghost attached to the ruins of Bungay Priory?”
Katharine’s pretty mouth drooped at the corners and her eyes dimmed as if a veil had descended over them. “At the time of my death, I was visited by a great black dog with fiery red eyes. He encouraged me to turn away from the White Light that was waiting for me and remain here on earth. I didn’t know that by choosing to remain, I would become trapped in the Overworld, between Heaven and the Underworld, for all eternity. My choice to walk the path of promised revenge resulted in my becoming enslaved to the black dog of Bungay. The black dog is excellent at
recruiting ghosts who die elsewhere but have a link to Bungay, and placing them in his power. He likes us all to stay near to his home, Bungay Castle.
“I have told you enough about me,” said Katharine, changing the subject. “This meeting has a purpose other than me telling you my life story. “The priory was founded by Countess Gundreda, in honour of the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Cross, for nuns of the Benedictine order. It was built on land granted to the countess on her marriage to Hugh Bigod, First Earl of Norfolk. After Hugh’s death, the land was confirmed to her, and her second husband, Roger de Glanville,
by King Henry II.”
Here it is. The link between Hugh Bigod and the priory. But what does it matter if his descendants established the priory?
About Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Roberta Eaton Cheadle is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.
Roberta has short stories and poems in several anthologies and has 2 published novels, Through the Nethergate, a historical supernatural fantasy, and A Ghost and His Gold, a historical paranormal novel set in South Africa.
Roberta has 9 children’s books published under the name Robbie Cheadle.
Roberta was educated at the University of South Africa where she achieved a Bachelor of Accounting Science in 1996 and a Honours Bachelor of Accounting Science in 1997. She was admitted as a member of The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2000.
Roberta has worked in corporate finance from 2001 until the present date and has written 7 publications relating to investing in Africa. She has won several awards over her 20-year career in the category of Transactional Support Services.
Find Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5
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Writing to be Read 
(deep sigh) so many things to ponder as adults
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We are lucky to live in such an informed world. Thanks for reading, Annette.
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This is an interesting post, Robbie. I don’t understand the purpose behind the practice of immurement. I had never heard of this before. Did they do this just so they wouldn’t be burdened with these children, or had they committed some offense and it was a severe punishment? Why would they do that? It seems a rather harsh punishment, but it would be even crueler if they were just ridding themselves of unwanted children. I suppose it is no worse than the practice of leaving unwanted babes in the cold to die. I guess they were very harsh times, but were they so bad that decency and humanity were lost completely?
It also seems odd to me that they would deconstruct the bridge and relocate and rebuild it here in the states. Any insight as to why that waas done? I suppose they would have found the childrens’ remains when the original bridge was replaced if that origin story were true, so maybe that was something said to scare children into behavior or something?
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Hi Kaye, no evidence of immurement was found with regards to the original bridge. The one moved to the USA was not the original but a later bridge. Immurement was a very common practice in Europe in the Middle Ages and many buildings do have the remains of children and other people in their foundations. It was to do with superstitious beliefs, many of which were inhumane. With regards to nuns and also their babies, this was very common and many skeletons have been found in the walls of priories and other buildings of religious significance. My story of Katharine was based on real facts.
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I had heard the legend of immurement, but not the other two. Fascinating.
Loved your excerpt.
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Thank you, Staci. Immurement is a terrible thing but it was a common practice.
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Reblogged this on and commented:
I am over at Writing to be Read with this months Dark Origins post. London Bridge is Falling Down, what is the origin of this nursery rhyme? Immurement? Vikings? Or the fires that impacted London in the 17th century? Thanks for hosting me, Kaye Lynne Booth.
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Wow Robbie, this was fascinating, frightening and so very sad all at the same time
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HI Bernadette, It is sad and frightening and the immurement was a very common occurrence in Europe at the time. Thanks for reading.
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Reblogged this on OPENED HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Thanks for sharing, Michael.
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What a very interesting research, Robbie! Only a few more postings, and your are going to become a real academic literature historic professional too. xx Michael
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I’m working on it, Michael [smile]. Have a wonderful evening.
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Immurement seems an incompatible practice for Christendom–unless it was for heresy. A holdover pagan practice, maybe?
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Hi Liz, the practice of immurement existed among the ancient Incas. I wrote about it for one of my short stories. I found his article on All That’s Interesting about the history of immurement: https://allthatsinteresting.com/immurement-history. It is quite interesting.
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Thanks for passing the article along, Robbie. I just read it. Truly horrifying.
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Yes, it is horrible, but this is our horrible history.
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Sadly, yes.
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I had forgotten the Falling Bridges game until you mentioned it- brings back some happy memories 🙂
The survival of that ancient page from Norway is amazing!
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HI Jacquie, I agree about the page, I was astonished when I discovered its existence. I also enjoyed this game which we played with a jump rope.
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I have read about immurement before, but your explanation clarifies it for me, although it still seems barbaric. Nevertheless I remember with fondness playing London Bridge. (K)
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Yes, when we played this game, we had no idea of its origins. There were so many dreadful practices in the past, it is quite overwhelming.
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Unfortunately too many remain.
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Great history and story behind the children’s song. Great excerpt from your story, Robbie!
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I meant interesting history, it wasn’t a great thing.
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Yes, of course I knew that [smile].
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Thank you, Denise. The more I investigate, the darker the things I find. Mankind certainly has plenty of skeletons in its collective closet.
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Excellent history. I found London Bridge is falling down to be really disturbing when I was a kid. I like the teaser from your novel.
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Thank you, Timothy. We used to play jump rope to this song. I never really worried about it, or any of the other games we played. Most of them have dark origins. I’m glad you liked this teaser.
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Oh my, here I thought it was just a harmless little nursery rhyme. In the version we sang, there was a stanza where you Take the Keys and Lock her up, lock her up …… Some great research here Robbie.
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Hi Carla, yes, that is the line from the original version that underpins the immurement theory. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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I think this is the darkest nursery rhyme yet, Robbie what an awful practice immurement was those poor children …Well done on the research though excellent info …
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Hi Carol, Europe certainly was a continent of superstitions and dark practices. I know Africa also had some very inhuman practices, and in some places these are still practiced. I’m sure other continents also have their skeletons like the Salem Witch Trials.
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I think you are correct, Robbie if we look there are probably skeletons all around the world…
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Amazing Robbie.. and yet it has been sung by millions of children over the years…the hypothosis that starving children were buried alive in the foundations is unthinkable…terrific post as always and thanks Kaye Lynne for hosting…hugs
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HI Sally, thanks for visiting. Another very dark origin and I knew that immurement was used to ‘dispose’ of nuns and their babies when they became pregnant. I didn’t know children were buried as part of a ceremony like the one I described in my post. Apparently, this was very common in Europe and there are lots of buildings where the skeletons of children have been found in the foundations.
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Sometimes I wonder how the human race survived… I still do some days!! hugsxx
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Reblogged this on Ed;s Site..
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Thanks for sharing, Ed.
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Why do we tell these stories to our children ? I grew up playing and singing the song. I never thought about its meaning. I never heard of immurement – yikes!
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I suppose, Dan, that people have just handed the game and songs down from generation to generation without knowing the origins. The original meaning gets lost in history.
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I wonder what the original intent was?
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This is an interesting article about immurement, Dan, if you would like to know a little more: https://allthatsinteresting.com/immurement-history. I enjoy All That’s Interesting and have learned a lot of new historical information through this site.
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Thank you very much!
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[…] Head over to discover just how dark the origins are to this particular nursery rhyme: Dark Origins London Bridge is Falling Down […]
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I’d never heard any of these legends Robbie, so I appreciate your disection on these various tales. Funny, as children we never look deep enough into the meaning of these rhymes, but many of them as well as fairytales are scary – Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood. Seriously, those are scary stories for children. Great post! 🙂 x
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Thank you, Debby. I think that children can only understand stories to the extend of their own experience. You can visualise something you have never seen or experienced. That is the big difference, in my opinion, between TV / computer games and books and audio stories. Thanks for visiting, Debby.
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I agree Robbie. A child’s mind is so creative with imagination. 🙂
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Oh my, what ghastly practices we humans engage in. I hope young children weren’t entombed in the bridge, but even if they weren’t, I know terrible things were done to them. I’m not sure whether to thank you or not for bringing this history to my attention, Robbie. 😉
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HI Norah, we do have a terrible history, sadly. It is important to remember it, in my opinion, so we can take preventative action in the now.
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We do, but I’m not sure if enough people remember. 😦
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Thanks, Robbie. There are horrendous stories behind some of the nursery rhymes and tales, unfortunately many of them involving children as victims. It doesn’t bear thinking about, but it shouldn’t be ignored. It is so true that reality can be far more incredible than fiction.
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Hi Olga, that is so true. I’ve heard real life stories that I just can’t believe are true. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
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