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Perhaps the most impressive and curious structure that adorned London Bridge at this time (1580-1600) was the famous Nonsuch House; so called because it was constructed in Holland entirely of wood, and being brought over in pieces, was erected there with wooden pegs only, not a single nail being used in the whole structure.
On the London side of the bridge, the Nonsuch House was partly joined to numerous small wooden buildings of about twenty-seven feet in depth which hung over the parapet on each side, leaving, however, a clear space of twenty feet in the centre; but over all these humble dwellings the carved gables, cupolas, and gilded vanes of the Dutch edifice proudly towered.
Two sundials crowned the top on the south side, and on one of them was painted the well-suited adage "Time and tide stay for no man." Like most other buildings on London Bridge, this celebrated house overhung the east and west sides of the bridge, and presented two magnificent fronts to the Thames with splendid columns, windows, and carvings.