Patricia Pierce

In this book Patricia Pearce attempts what appears to be a long-held personal ambition: to give Mary Anning, Britain's first female palaeontologist, the recognition she deserves. There is no doubt that Mary was a remarkable person, especially considering all the adversities even a woman from a higher social class in the first half of the nineteenth century had to face. I got the impression that because there are only a few hard facts known about Mary, with glimpses of her personality visible in personal correspondence, the author felt she had to bulk out the book by including often irrelevant details about all the other acquaintances – mainly men – using occasionally dramatic or fanciful prose, which does not sit easily with the subject. The chronology jumps all over the place and as a result there are repetitions of facts already referred to in other chapters.

While I know more now about Mary Anning than before reading the book, the overall impression is somewhat unsatisfactory, when this could have been a much more interesting read in the hands of a better writer.… (more)

This is a very engagingly written history of Old London Bridge, the Medieval bridge over the Thames constructed in stone in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, and which lasted through numerous political, economic, architectural and meteorological upheavals for over six centuries until 1831. It was replaced by a much wider and spaciously-arched bridge alongside, which had been constructed over the previous seven years. This lasted until the late 1960s, when it in turn was replaced by the current incarnation, and sold off in pieces and (in)famously re-erected in the American desert.

The history of a bridge over the Thames is very much the history of London itself in smaller scale, and there were numerous wooden bridges in approximately the same location before the twelfth century, dating back to the Roman period and possibly even earlier, when there was of course no London at all. The Medieval bridge evolved hugely during its 600 plus years of life, and houses, shops, gatehouses, chapels (St Thomas a Becket's) and mansions (Nonesuch House) were all repaired and replaced numerous times. For much of the early period we don't know what the Bridge looked like, and have to conjecture from what building details are known; only in the sixteenth century does it really emerge into the light of drawings and maps. But the whole period is marked by numerous colourful incidents and personalities that make this a pleasure to read. The ending is a bit sad in that the whole superstructure of buildings was removed in the late 18th century, so that Old London Bridge was, like it successors, "naked" for the last 70 years of its life; but this was inevitable for a variety of reasons including competition from the other bridges starting to be built from this time and its structural weaknesses from decades and centuries of being battered by the tides. But the bridge retains its place as one of the key landmarks of the capital city, known and celebrated throughout the world.… (more)