Not really a folk tradition but enshrined in law. There’s not a weird laws/bylaws community so this seemed like the most appropriate place.
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Whenever the height between the river and the bridge’s arches is reduced, as it is at Canning Town, then a rule requires a bale of hay to be hung from a bridge as a warning to mariners. According to the Port of London Thames Byelaws, Clause 36.2, a bale of straw has to be placed under London’s river bridges “when the headroom of an arch or span of a bridge is reduced from its usual limits”.
Good sense rule. Keep it in the book. Simple as.
