A quiz question · medium
Why did the upper Thames stop freezing in London after 1832?
Old London Bridge's nineteen piers and surrounding starlings blocked approximately 80% of the Thames flow, slowing the upstream river so much that it froze in cold winters. When the bridge was demolished in 1831–1832 and the new Rennie bridge opened upstream, the obstruction was removed. The river has not frozen in London since.
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The Bridge That Was a Street and a Dam Old London Bridge stood for six hundred years, carried houses and shops on its back, and dammed the river so completely that the Thames froze upstream. When they tore it down in 1831 the river never froze again.
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