Buildings on the Move

Forty years ago, in October 1971, London Bridge was opened in Arizona, having been moved from the City of London by the American oil tycoon Robert McCulloch and rebuilt in Lake Havasu City. Here are some more historic structures that have been moved to new locations.

- The site of All Saints church, built beside the River Thames at Waterhay, Wiltshire in 1250, was prone to flooding and by the end of the 19th century the village had diminished to leave just a farm and the church. In 1896 the main body of All Saints was moved one mile to the south and rebuilt stone by stone in the village of Leigh, leaving only the chancel standing alone in the middle of a field at Waterhay.

- Crosby Hall was built in 1466 in London’s Bishopsgate by City merchant Sir John Crosby and lived in by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III, Sir Thomas More and Sir Walter Ralegh. Taken down in 1910 to make room for the Bank of India, the hall was rebuilt on Cheyne Walk, on the site of Sir Thomas More’s Chelsea garden. It is now owned by property tycoon Christopher Moran.

- Captain Cook’s Cottage was built in 1755 at Great Ayton, North Yorkshire by Captain Cook’s father. It was sold in 1933 and shipped to Australia where it was rebuilt in Fitzroy Park in Melbourne,Victoria to commemorate the state’s centennial. Every brick, stone and timber was numbered and catalogued so the cottage could be rebuilt as faithfully as possible, with the walls constructed to the same degree of crookedness as in its original location.

- Built in 1832 on the cliff-top at Beachy Head in Sussex, Belle Tout Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1903. It became a private dwelling and was bought by the BBC in 1986 for use as a location for the filming of Fay Weldon’s drama series Life and Loves of a She-Devil. Due to erosion, in 1999 the building was lifted and moved 60 feet back from the edge of the cliff and is now a B&B.

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