HW Brewer thinks that Peter of Colechurch took advantage of a natural shoal in the bed of the river, to start with in building his starlings, and in this he drove piles and filled in with rubble stone (this was the ninth pier on the city or north side, which was much larger and wider than any of the others); and, further, that he built the city half first from this point, and then went on with the remainder to the Southwark side.
This hypothesis is probably right, as it would form a strong point d'appui, and it readily accounts for the presence of the Chapel of St. Thomas, the whole extent of the shoal being utilised and held in by the piles.
Stow, in his Survey, says that "the whole course of the river was turned another way about by a trench cast for that purpose, starting, as it is supposed, east about Radriffe (Rotherhithe), and ending in the west about Patricksey, now termed Batersey."
A Herculean task, if true, but this account is probably an exaggeration. It is possible that a portion of the stream might have been diverted through channels in the marshes, but Southwark was already a populous suburb, and it would have been a most difficult bit of engineering for those early days.
The bridge took exactly thirty-three years in building, being completed in 1209. The citizens had been assisted both by the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The bridge must have been a handsome structure when first erected, with its many arches, the soffits of each being carried by deeply chamfered stone ribs.
Its handsome apsidal chapel was of two stories, the lower one, or crypt, being accessible from the river; it was sixty feet in height from the water, and was defended by a drawbridge and towers and fortified gate on the Southwark side.
The arches were not of a uniform width, the three central ones being wider, and the others varied according to the hardness of the bottom, so as to get a firm foundation for the starling.
These starlings must have presented a curious sight at low water, as they projected far in front and on each side of the piers from which the arches sprang, confining the waterway to a narrow channel through which the stream rushed as through a mill.
The river rather resented this attempt at fettering its liberty, and poured through these old arches like a cataract.
Often at high water there was a fall of four or five feet between the two sides of the bridge, which made the navigation of it, or shooting the bridge as it was called, a matter not only of difficulty, but of great danger to the venturesome boatmen who attempted it.
Previously it was noted that Peter of Colechurch had died four years before London's first stone bridge was completed, and King John recommended to the citizens that they should employ the services of another clergyman, Isenbert, Master of the schools of Xainctes, who had already built or designed two bridges at Xainctes and Rochelle.
But the citizens wanted no foreigner - they were always very touchy on that subject - and preferred to give it to three citizens, Serle Mercer, William Almaine, and Benedict Botewrite, who finished the work.
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