TRACT 2.

LONDON BRIDGE.

119

pier, about 7 feet within. It is the south pier of the damlock ; a great part of which was undermined, by some of thesterlings being carried away, and leaving it defenceless there.I observe that the piles are round, rough, unhewn, and drivenclose together ; and they are chiefly elm, of about one footdiameter. Some of these piles, being taken up, were shodwith iron ; and I think it is reasonable to suppose they areall so.”

“ Query 8. Whether the foundations of the piers, beforethe sterlings were added, extended beyond the naked line ofthe stone-work: and if so, as it is most likely, describe howmuch, at a mean, and the manner, by a figured sketch ?”

“ Answer. There is, to every pier, a setoff, or foundation,which extends about 7 inches beyond the naked line of thepier ; and that setoff or foundation is of stone. But I am ofopinion that sterlings were fixed at the first erecting of thebridge ; because I think it impossible for the piers to standlong without some such defence. But whether they were somuch extended, or in the same shape they are now, is noteasy to determine.”

“ Query 9. Are the piles, that are under the foundationsof the piers, much decayed and galled by the action of thecurrents of waters, before the sterlings were added ?”

“ Answer. All those piles under the foundations of thepiers, which I ever saw, are very sound at heart. But aboutone inch of their surface hath been decayed : but these werepiles which had been for some time exposed to the violenceof the flood, by the breaches made in the sterlings. But Iapprehend that cannot be the case with the piles which gofarther under, or in the middle of the piers; because watercannot act upon them.”

“ Query 10. What is the inside of the stone piers madeof? whether of the same’sort of stone as the outside; cutand laid regular, or only common rubble stones, laid in veiybad mortar, as it is in Rochester-bridge ?”

i( Answer. I have seen, in several breaches, the texture