in continuous use and can be found carved into stonework in many places along the riverfront. It has been the identifying emblem of the Bridge House Estates for many centuries, but the latter now uses the City of London arms as an emblem. The City Bridge Trust uses the mark as a logo. It was thought likely that the mark as we know it today was designed by a famous 17th-century surveyor, William Leybourn. It appears drawn on a plan of 1680 which it is thought he adapted from a similar mark drawn against plots owned by Bridge House Estates on an earlier plan of St George's Fields in Southwark. The City sword rest from the church of St Olave, Southwark (now in the north transept of Southwark Cathedral) has the Bridge Mark carved onto it to balance the City's shield, and shows a date of 1674. Governance The trust was established by the grant of a royal charter on 24 May 1282, and the sole trustee is the City of London Corporation. The trustee is the legal but not beneficial owner of the trust property—it may only be used for the legitimate purposes for which the fund was created. Bridge House Estates and its grantmaking arm (the City Bridge Trust) are run by a committee of the City of London Corporation called the Bridge House Estates Board, the chairmanship of which is held by a Common Councilman on a three-year rotation. the current Chair is Giles Shilson. In addition to its royal charter of 1282, the Bridge House Estates operates with respect to various legislative powers e.g. the Blackfriars Bridge Act 1863, the Blackfriars and Southwark Bridge Act 1867, the Corporation of London (Tower Bridge) Act 1885 for its maintenance role and for its general charitable role under the Charities (The Bridge House Estates) Order 1995 (Statutory Instrument 1047), and the Charities (The Bridge House Estates) Order 2001 (Statutory Instrument 4017). Finances Originally funded by tolls on London Bridge, the rents and leases of the buildings that were on it and also by charitable donations, the Bridge House Estates acquired an extensive property portfolio which made it self-sufficient. The fund administered by the Bridge House Estates is solely responsible for the five City Bridges. There is no financial support from the government or any other fund. If one of the bridges happened to collapse, the charity would have to