[1] The tune now associated with the rhyme was first recorded in 1879 in the United States in A.H. Rosewig's Illustrated National Songs and Games.

The most common is that two players hold hands and make an arch with their arms while the others pass through in single file.

[2] In England until the nineteenth century, the song may have been accompanied by a circle dance, but arch games are known to have been common across late medieval Europe.

These include "Knippelsbro Går Op og Ned" from Denmark, "Die Magdeburger Brück" from Germany, "Pont chus" from 16th-century France, and "Le porte" from 14th-century Italy.

[2] One of the earliest references to the rhyme in English is in the comedy The London Chaunticleres, printed in 1657, but probably written about 1636,[9] in which the dairy woman Curds states that she had "danced the building of London-Bridge" at the Whitsun Ales in her youth, although no words or actions are mentioned.

[1] The oldest extant version could be that recalled by a correspondent to the Gentleman's Magazine in 1823, which he claimed to have heard from a woman who was a child in the reign of Charles II (r. 1660–1685) and had the lyrics: London Bridge is broken down, Dance over the Lady Lea; London Bridge is broken down, With a gay lay-dee.

[2] A version from James Ritson's Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784) is also similar but replaces the last verse with: Build it up with stone so strong, Dance o'er my Lady Lee, Huzza!

It may simply relate to the many difficulties experienced in bridging the River Thames, but a number of alternative explanations have been put forward.

One hypothesis of origin is that the rhyme relates to the supposed destruction of London Bridge by Olaf II in 1014 (or 1009).

[10] The translation of the Norse saga the Heimskringla, published by Samuel Laing in 1844, included a verse by Óttarr svarti, that looks very similar to the nursery rhyme: London Bridge is broken down.

However, the original document detailing the attack was written only about 100 years after what would be a famous event in a highly populated area, leading the majority of historians to conclude that the account is at least relatively accurate.

Widening and the removal of its houses was completed in 1763, but it remained relatively narrow and needed continual and expensive repairs.

[20] The music on the first track of the Helloween's album Walls of Jericho (1985) was also based on "London Bridge Is Falling Down",[21] and the traditional tune is often used by English football supporters as the basis for chants.