Ian Doolittle is a legal historian and former academic barrister with a long-standing interest in London’s civic and charitable institutions. He has written extensively on property law, urban governance, and historical legal structures, and is a former editor of the Journal of Legal History. This is his first book for a general readership.

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• The Bridge House – a prologue‘God and the Bridge’ – how it startedKings (and some Queens) – support, interference, and then disengagementThe trust that wasn’t – at least not for a few centuriesThe City Corporation – the corporate trustee with a differenceLondon Bridge from Southwark to Arizona – the disappearing iconMore bridges – why, where and what?Funding – property, tolls and creditSouthwark – an intriguing relationshipParliament and politicians – coping with controversyTower Bridge – the new City Bridge iconThe City’s river and its bridges – a complicated relationship‘St. Paul’s Bridge’ – the bridge that never wasThe new St. Paul’s Bridge – for the millennium‘Ancillary purposes’ – City Bridge Trust/FoundationDiscovering more – a remarkable archiveA current reading listAcknowledgementsIllustrations