London Bridge is Falling Down: The Myths Behind Its Lyrics

The familiar nursery rhymes of today come from a myriad of sources and some have macabre origin legends. “London Bridge Is Falling Down” is among the earliest known, appearing in the 1659 play “The London Chaunticleres.” The theme of dilapidated bridges appeared in other European rhymes, including “Le Porte” from 14th century Italy, but also France and Denmark. The innocence of the song chanted for centuries belies the grizzly myths about the meaning behind its lyrics.

And there are many ideas, ranging from the identity of the “fair lady” to theories about its destruction by Vikings in the early 11th century. The grimmest ideas revolve around child sacrifice. Pre-Christian human sacrifice was a thing, and in the late 19th century folklorist Alice Bertha Gomme argued that the game related to the song “includes the ‘capture’ of a ‘prisoner’ as the children forming an archeologist bring their arms down to grasp one of those passing underneath” related to an ancient sacrificial practice of burying a victim in the foundations of a bridge in order to propitiate supernatural forces. This idea was embraced by Fiona and Peter Opie in the 20th century, and since they were the most important scholars of nursery rhymes in that century, many folklorists agreed.

In fact, in 2007 skulls were discovered by a team of workers beneath one the remains of London Bridge. However, there is no proof that the skulls were human sacrifices: moreover, it was not uncommon to put the skeletons of executed criminals in the Thames River. Thus, the child sacrifice theory is completely speculative.

FYI: There have also been many “London Bridges” across the centuries: the one from 1831 was dismantled and moved, stone-by-stone, to Lake Havazu City Arizona in 1971.