Englishmen were not behindhand in singing the praises of the bridge; thus Lyly wrote in _Euphues and his England_: 'Among all the straunge and beautiful showes, mee thinketh there is none so notable as the bridge which crosseth the Theames, which is in manner of a continuall streete, well replenyshed with large and stately houses on both sides, and situate upon twentie arches, whereof each one is made of excellent free stone squared, everie one of them being three score foote in height, and full twentie in distaunce one from another.'
The chapel on the bridge had an endowment for two priests or chaplains, four clerks and other brethren, with certain chantries annexed. A dwelling-house was afterwards attached to the chapel, which, at the close of the thirteenth century, was known as the Bridge House. In the year 1298 John de Leuesham [Lewisham], brother of the London 'Bridge House,' was made bailiff of the manor of Lewisham, 'the proceeds of which were then, as they still are, devoted to the maintenance and repair of the bridge.'[88]
In the folklore of bridges the frequent practice in the Middle Ages of building a chapel forms a special feature of the subject. There are several instances still remaining, one of which is the chapel of the old bridge at Bradford-on-Avon.
The waterway of the Thames was obstructed by the bridge, which formed a sort of lock to keep the waters in the upper portion of the river. The widest of the arches was 36 feet, and some were too narrow for the passage of boats of any kind. The resistance caused to so large a body of water on the rise and fall of the tide by the contraction of its channel produced a fall or rapid under the bridge. 'With the flood-tide it was impossible, and with the ebb-tide dangerous to pass through or shoot the arches of the bridge.' In the latter case prudent passengers landed above bridge, generally at the Old Swan Stairs, and walked to some wharf, generally Billingsgate.
In 1428, according to Stow, the Duke of Norfolk was like to be drowned passing from Saint Mary Overy Stairs through London Bridge. His barge was overset and thirty persons drowned. In _A Chronicle of London_ (edited by Nicolas) we read 'as God wolde, the duke hymself and too or iij othere gentylmen seeynge that myschief, leped upon the pyles and so were saved through helpe of them that weren above the brigge, with castyng down of ropes.' Many such accidents were constantly occurring, so that there was probably truth in one of Ray's Proverbs: 'London Bridge was made for wise men to go over and fools to go under.' That boats were frequently overturned is proved by Norden's View of London Bridge, in which boats, bottom upwards, fill the foreground.