{"id":28453,"date":"2023-10-26T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T08:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/?p=28453"},"modified":"2023-12-13T11:25:26","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T11:25:26","slug":"straw-bale-hung-from-londons-millennium-bridge-ancient-law-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/10\/26\/straw-bale-hung-from-londons-millennium-bridge-ancient-law-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Straw bale hung from London\u2019s Millennium Bridge to comply with ancient law \u2013 just part of the River Thames\u2019 long, legal history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maintenance workers<\/a>\u00a0on London\u2019s\u00a0Millennium Bridge<\/a> \u2013 which spans the River Thames \u2013\u00a0have hung<\/a>\u00a0a bale of straw from the bridge\u2019s undercarriage.<\/p>\n

An ancient byelaw requires that a bridge\u2019s owner warn passing ships of any reduction in headroom beneath the bridge with a white light at night and, during the day, a straw bale,\u00a0\u201clarge enough to be conspicuous\u201d<\/a>, suspended from its span.<\/p>\n

The City Bridge Foundation, which has,\u00a0in its own words<\/a>\u00a0\u201cbeen bridging London for a long time\u201d, duly complied, sourcing a bale from an\u00a0Essex farmer<\/a>. This practical provision is just one survivor of the river\u2019s long history as a distinct jurisdiction with its own laws and customs.<\/p>\n

\"View
User: Africaspotter at wikivoyage shared, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For centuries, London Bridge was the last bridge crossing the Thames before the sea. The\u00a0High Court of Admiralty<\/a>\u00a0held authority over the bustling wharfs and quays downriver.<\/p>\n

The business brought before the court reveals just how crowded the Thames was. Cases often dealt with collisions between ships and damage or loss to cargoes incurred during transfer from larger seagoing vessels to the lighters and boats ferrying them ashore.<\/p>\n

In one particularly unusual case that came before the High Court of Admiralty in 1643, a pet \u201cMunkye or baboone\u201d broke out of a ship\u2019s cabin and leapt and skipped across six neighbouring vessels. Reaching the seventh, named Good Successe, it entered the \u201cCookeroome\u201d and bit an 18-year-old sailor on the shoulder. The boy promptly sued the animal\u2019s owner for loss of earnings.<\/p>\n

That sort of incident was rare.\u00a0Research<\/a>\u00a0and archival records show that the river was, nonetheless, a dangerous place to work.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Drawing of London Bridge from a 1682 panorama, via Wikimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the 17th century, the High Court of Admiralty acted as coroner for those who drowned downriver of London Bridge. Both naval and commercial ships carried cannons and gunpowder, so fires and explosions sometimes occurred.<\/p>\n

The rule of law was not universally respected in the docklands. When admiralty officials came to arrest a sailor, it was not unheard of for their crewmates to fight back and help the suspect to escape.<\/p>\n

Another important institution was the\u00a0Trinity House of Deptford<\/a>. Established by royal charter in 1514, it is still in existence today (although its premises moved to Tower Hill during the seventeenth century).<\/p>\n

Originally a guild of shipmasters and merchants, the Trinity House\u00a0regulated matters<\/a>\u00a0like licenses for river pilots (pilotages) and providing ballast (ballastage) to outgoing ships on the river. It also assisted the government in naval and maritime affairs, including through examinations and certificates for navigators.<\/p>\n

The Trinity House held its own guild court, the\u00a0charter of which<\/a>\u00a0lays out the authority it had to \u201cmake, ordain, and constitute reasonable Laws, Constitutions, Orders, and Ordinances [which] shall bind all the said Guild, Fraternity, or Brotherhood, and all other Seamen and Mariners of the said River of Thames\u201d.<\/p>\n

One set of Trinity House \u201cby-Laws and Orders\u201d,\u00a0from 1661<\/a>, ordered sailors not to \u201cSwear, Curse, or Blaspheme, be Obstinate and Stubborn, tell a Lye, absent himself from Prayers, [or] be Drunk\u201d. Anyone who contravened this order was liable to a fine, which the Trinity House put towards charity to poor members.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Unknown artist, seventeenth century, Frost Fair on the Thames, with Old London Bridge in the distance, 1684, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1976.7.113.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A major thoroughfare<\/h2>\n

According to John Stow\u2019s\u00a0Survey of London<\/a>, published in 1598, some 2,000 boats worked by 3,000 \u201cpoor men\u201d ferried passengers around. These activities were regulated by the\u00a0Company of Watermen<\/a>, founded in 1555, who transported people.<\/p>\n

From 1700, they were joined by the\u00a0Thames Lightermen<\/a>, whose job it was to offload ships and get the goods to shore via smaller vessels.<\/p>\n

This guild, like the Trinity House, organised its own apprenticeships and court. It governed the conduct of its members, especially to prevent danger to passengers.<\/p>\n

The Company of Watermen also tried to protect its members\u2019 interests. It vociferously objected to proposals for any new bridge across the river, which it saw as a threat to members\u2019 trade. So too, when London\u2019s playhouses moved from Southwark to the City in the early 1600s, thereby reducing the river traffic in theatregoers.<\/p>\n

Curator and researcher Hannah Stockton\u00a0has shown<\/a>\u00a0how the Thames remained busy into the 18th century and beyond. It was\u00a0considered<\/a>\u00a0a \u201ccommon highway\u201d under the law of highway robbery. Such crimes were taken more seriously than other robberies, because they interfered with the freedom to travel.<\/p>\n

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the docks, shipping and bridges over the river all multiplied. The prosperity and expanded population this brought to London came with challenges.<\/p>\n

In 1798-1800, the Thames River Police was formed. Still going today, as the\u00a0Marine Policing Unit<\/a>\u00a0within the Metropolitan Police (and still based at the same site in Wapping), it is possibly the oldest police force in Britain whose remit extends beyond the boundaries of a single borough or city.<\/p>\n

The Port of London Act of 1908 led to the establishment of the\u00a0Port of London Authority<\/a>\u00a0in 1909. This provided a single organisation to oversee river traffic and docks. It merged the private police forces that had previously been managed by individual dock companies.<\/p>\n

Today the Port of London Authority manages river traffic and navigational safety, among other things. Presumably it will have advised all Thames pilots to watch out for a bale of straw dangling from a bridge, just as their predecessors would have done in generations past.<\/p>\n

\n

Richard Blakemore<\/strong><\/a> is an Associate Professor in Social and Maritime History at the University of Reading.<\/p>\n

This article is republished from\u00a0The Conversation<\/a>\u00a0under a Creative Commons Licence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maintenance workers\u00a0on London\u2019s\u00a0Millennium Bridge \u2013 which spans the River Thames \u2013\u00a0have hung\u00a0a bale of straw from the bridge\u2019s undercarriage. 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