Eadsford Bridge
A grant was made in 1339 for a bridge at Eadsford and the oldest part of the present structure, with its three pointed arches each with three ribs, may indeed have first been built then. This section of the bridge was 8ft wide and, when the bridge was widened by 12ft on the downstream face in the eighteenth century, the earlier part may have been rebuilt in the original form. The main arch, which is segmental, spans 60ft between piers with triangular upstream cutwaters. There is a curved approach at the west end with five smaller arches. ABNE, BLY, SYBBR
Eadsford Bridge
Although there is a record of Eamont Bridge dated 1291, the present bridge was not built until 1425. It has three segmental arches built in red sandstone, all about 30ft in span and consisting of two arch rings supported by ribs. Four of these are under the older part of the bridge and two more beneath the later work from 1832 when the bridge was widened to 19ft. The bold triangular cutwaters are recessed back to form half-hexagonal refuges. The bridge is listed Grade I. ABNE, BB, BEVA, NTBB
Eamont Bridge
The medieval double stone bridge over the Uppey Wey River, which is owned by the National Trust, was probably built in the thirteenth century by monks from Waverley Abbey. The first bridge over the main stream has five semicircular arches of about 10ft span, and the nearby millstream bridge has three semicircular arches, the largest spanning about 16ft. The cutwaters on both bridges are pointed upstream and rounded downstream. Fox Way crosses the river here. ABSE, CEHS
Eashing Mill Bridge
Jervoise enthusiastically described this Grade I bridge as ‘certainly the finest bridge in the South of England … a perfect example of medieval design and workmanship’. It has four ribbed and pointed stone arches, the longest of about 26ft span, dating probably from the fourteenth century, and a later towpath arch that is about 200 years old. The four piers have big cutwaters on each side but, despite the narrow 11ft width of the roadway, these have large triangular tops rather than continuing up to parapet level to provide pedestrian refuges. At the south end the road approaches the bridge at an angle and is carried onto the bridge by an unusual pointed squinch arch. In 1648 the New Model Army forced a crossing over the lightly guarded bridge on its way to victory at Maidstone. The Medway Valley Walk passes the bridge on the river’s northern bank. ABSE, BB, BBPS, BME, BoB, CEHS, DB
East Farleigh Bridge
The old bridge at East Linton has two 43ft-span stone arches, both of which have wide ribs, and was probably built in about 1550. The stepped pier has large pointed cutwaters and the abutments are supported by lateral buttresses. The width between parapets was originally about 9ft but the bridge was widened by about 3ft in 1763. CEHSL, HBEKB
In the 1790s the central part of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal reached East Marton, where this interesting little canal bridge was built. It consists of two identical segmental stone arches built one above the other to carry the A59 road at a skew across the canal cutting. The Pennine Way here follows the canal towpath as that goes under the canal bridge. BLY, SBIW
Completed in 1984 to a design by consulting engineers Benaim, this 910m-long concrete viaduct carries the Cardiff Peripheral Distributor Road. It was constructed as a series of balanced cantilevers using precast sections successively glued and prestressed together. There are eighteen spans, the typical span length being 52.5m.
The park at Easton Lodge was the site of a ceremonial timber Japanese tea house constructed in the form of a pier jutting into the lake. Designed by Harold Peto for Daisy, Countess of Warwick, the structure consisted of six bents supporting the walkway, above which was a fully glazed roof. It was built in 1902 and demolished in the 1950s.
The attractive little bridge in the narrow Calder valley at Eastwood is the simplest of stone arch structures. Consisting of the arch barrel only, with no spandrels or parapets, it is 13ft wide and its segmental arch spans about 20ft. PBE
Described by Jervoise as one of the most attractive bridges in Herefordshire, Eaton Bridge over the River Lugg has a central stone segmental arch that is raised for navigation. It is flanked by much flatter and lower segmental arches, both with three wide ribs. The bridge, which was probably built in the seventeenth century, has been widened on its upstream side to give a 20ft roadway. The Herefordshire Trail passes the bridge’s east end. ABWWE
Eaton Bridge
This private bridge carries the estate road to Eaton Hall over the River Dee and was built by William Crosley in 1824. The 17ft-wide road deck is carried over its single 150ft span by four arched cast iron ribs of X-braced panels. There is crossed strut bracing in the spandrels, the spaces being heavily decorated with cast iron cusps and quatrefoils. At the crown of the bridge are cast iron double gates. Jervoise described it as ‘probably the most elegant iron bridge in existence’ and it is listed Grade I. ABWWE, BEVA, CEHWW, DB, IB
Eaton Hall Bridge
This massive semicircular stone bridge was built in 1813, probably to carry an industrial tramway over another tramway, this latter one being converted into a railway in 1855 and, following the closure of the railway in 1975, into a road. In about 1848 the level of the deck over the arch was raised, by the construction of a superimposed viaduct of eight tall roundheaded brick arches, in order to ease the gradients for a mineral railway that replaced the earlier tramway. BHRB
Ebbw Vale Big Arch
A bridge over the Avon at Eckington was recorded in 1440 and the present 13ft-wide structure, which was built in 1728, has six segmental stone arches of spans varying in length up to about 18ft long. Jervoise called it ‘a very fine stone bridge’ and it was the subject of the poem Upon Eckington Bridge by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, in which he describes ‘the eloquent grooves … worn in the sandstone parapet’ by the bargemen’s ropes. Shakespeare’s Avon Way switches river banks on this bridge. ABWWE
Eckington Bridge
When the River Eden was first bridged at Carlisle it had two separate channels, the southern arm of which had gradually silted up by the eighteenth century. Timber bridges here were recorded in the early years of the twelfth century, with repairs being needed to rectify damage caused during Scottish raids into England. A stone bridge was built during the sixteenth century and the present five-span bridge replaced this in 1812.
These spans are all segmental stone arches 65ft long, with small rounded cutwaters protecting the intermediate piers. In 1933 the bridge was widened from 34ft to 70ft between parapets, the new work being built in concrete and refaced with the original stonework. Hadrian’s Wall Path passes under the southern end of the bridge. ABNE, BB
Eden Bridge
Built in 1760 by the architect James Paine, this lovely bridge crosses the River Derwent as it runs through Chatsworth Park, landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown. The bridge, which carries a public road, has a single, high, segmental, ribbed stone arch spanning 66ft, the parapets sloping up to a point. ABTB, BB, BiB, BoB, DB, NTBB
Edensor Bridge
See Bearley Aqueduct, Bearley, Warwickshire
Eel Pie has long been the only inhabited island on the Thames tideway, but it was not until 1957 that it was linked to the nearby left bank of the river by a permanent bridge. Designed by the engineering consultancy firm E. W. H. Gifford & Partners, this was Britain’s first continuous three-span prestressed concrete bridge. The 120ft-long bow-shaped footbridge had a centre span of 84ft. In 1987 the bridge was damaged when a gas main was hung from the structure and, after protracted negotiations, it was finally replaced in 1998 by a new steel footbridge. This was designed by the Brian Clancy Partnership and built, with a similar profile to the earlier bridge, on the original piers and abutments. PCF
The stone bridge at Egglestone Abbey was built in the seventeenth century to carry the packhorse trail over Thorsgill Beck, where it joins the River Tees, to Barnard Castle. It has a 27ft-span nearly semicircular arch and the pathway is 5ft wide between low castellated parapets. The bridge can be seen from the Teesdale Way on the north bank of the Tees. ABNE, BBPS, BCD, BiB, JBPT, PBE
Although first built about 1450, this crossing over the River Tees was largely rebuilt in the seventeenth century. It has two segmental stone arches separated by a pier protected on each face by a massive triangular cutwater that extends up to parapet level. The 11ft-wide roadway across the bridge slopes up from the lower to the higher bank of the river. The bridge carries the Teesdale Way. ABNE, BB, BCD, BiB, BND
The Tournament Bridge over the Lugton river was built by the thirteenth Earl of Eglinton to carry visitors to his famous Eglinton Tournament, held in August 1839 to mark Queen Victoria’s coronation. The five-ribbed cast iron bridge has two semi-elliptical arches with decorative ironwork on the solid spandrels. There are battlemented octagonal stone towers at each end of the bridge itself and similar smaller towers at the ends of the abutments, and the bridge is further decorated with crocketed iron pinnacles above the mid-river pier. The parapet is an ornate arcade of interlaced Gothic arches with small castellations above. The bridge has recently been completely restored and a new steel deck inserted.
Eglinton Tournament Bridge
This castle on an island at the entrance to Loch Duich was built in 1220 and destroyed in a bombardment by an English warship during the abortive Jacobite rising of 1719. The castle was rebuilt to its current photogenic state in 1932 when it was also linked to the mainland by a narrow, medieval-looking bridge with one main and two smaller flanking segmental stone arches. There are sharply pointed cutwaters to the piers and abutments, which rake back to a reduced projection between the spandrels, and the tops of these cutwaters are crowned by successively cantilevered semicircular rings of stonework. HB
This pipe bridge carries several large-diameter water pipes over the River Severn. The structure, built in 1904, has a main span consisting of four segmentally arched steel lattice ribs spanning 150ft with a rise of 15ft. There is also an approach viaduct on the east bank with five segmental brick arches. CEHWW, DoB
Elstead Old Bridge over the Upper Wey was built in about 1300. It has five semicircular stone arches and the cutwaters on the river piers are pointed upstream and rounded downstream. The parapet walls are of brick. The bridge was strengthened in 1993 and a modern structure downstream now carries eastbound traffic. ABSE, CEHS, DB, FFB
Elstead Bridge
Building of Eltham Palace began in the early fourteenth century, and a stone bridge over the moat on the north side is known to have been reconstructed in 1396. This may even be the present structure, although it is more likely to date from the late fifteenth century when the great hall was rebuilt. This 10ft-wide bridge has four four-centred arches, the longest spanning about 24ft, and originally there was a drawbridge at the inner end. The intermediate piers are protected by triangular cutwaters. A crossing over the moat to the south of the palace leading to the royal garden and hunting park was first built at the end of the fourteenth century. The existing bridge over this now dry southern moat stands on brick and stone piers from the seventeenth or eighteenth century and has three main spans consisting of knee-braced oak beams. This superstructure was built in the 1930s and heavily restored in 1999. The palace is in the care of English Heritage.
This wire rope suspension footbridge over the River Clyde was built in 1900, probably by David Rowell & Co. It spans 125ft span between latticed pylons with rod hangers supporting lattice girders on either side of a 4½ft-wide timber deck. The pylons are connected by an arch with cross bracing above and stand on the abutments from an earlier seventeenth century stone bridge that had been destroyed by floods.
The first bridge linking Durham’s rocky promontory to the east was probably built by Richard the Engineer in about 1160 for Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham from 1153 to 1195, fifty years after Ranulf Flambard, one of Pudsey’s predecessors, built Framwellgate Bridge (qv) over the River Wear to the west. Pudsey’s bridge, however, was substantially rebuilt in 1225, required extensive repairs again in about 1495 and three arches swept away in the 1771 floods also had to be replaced. There were originally fourteen pointed arches of which ten that have not been obscured by later buildings can still be seen. These all had five ribs and spans of between 23ft and 32ft. The original bridge had thirteenth-century chapels at both ends with houses between and was guarded by a gate tower. Most of these buildings were demolished in the late eighteenth century although parts of St Andrew’s Chapel at the lower, east end still survive. Semicircular extensions to the medieval arches were built in 1805 to extend the bridge from its original width of about 17ft to 31ft. The Weardale Way passes under the bridge, which is listed Grade I. ABNE, BB, BBPS, BCD, BEVA, BiB, BME, BND, BoB, BRW, BRWe, CEHN, DB, DoB, FFB, NTBB
Elvet Bridge
The bridge that provides access across the River Hart from what was Elvetham Hall (now The Elvetham, a hotel since 2001) to the park is an interesting structure dating from 1862. It has two segmental arches, each spanning 10ft, supporting a roadway 14ft wide. Red and black bricks form alternating normal and inverted tee shapes in the arch rings and, above a stone string course, the brick parapet is pierced by step-sided diamondshaped openings. The parapets terminate at one end in deeply panelled brick piers supporting fearsome carved stone boars, at the park end in tall brick gate piers topped by carved stone finials. BHHI
Elvetham Hall Bridge
This 25m-long swimming pool, ten storeys above ground level, bridges 14m between two residential buildings. It is supported by 200mm thick acrylic side walls 3.3m high, and two tensioned cables span beneath the 200mm thick acrylic base. The structure, designed by HAL Architects and engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan, is due to open in 2019. NCE
This aqueduct flyover, built by Telford in 1829, carries the 1778 Old Main Line section of the Birmingham Canal over the later and lower New Main Line section. Three cast iron arch ribs, spanning 52ft between stone abutments, support the narrow cast iron trough. The outer edges of the towpath and footpath on each side of the trough are supported on Gothic cast iron arcades standing on two further ribs. CAB, CEHWW, IB, ICE, SBIW
The first bridge across the Severn to the east of Shrewsbury, known as Stone Bridge, was probably built in Norman times and had five stone arches and a drawbridge. The old bridge was only 12ft wide and in 1768 work started on a new bridge designed by the architect John Gwynn. Completed in 1774, this had seven semicircular stone arches supporting a hump-backed roadway 24ft wide. Private funding enabled there to be much decorative embellishment that included a pedimented alcove at mid-span and carved dolphins on the cutwaters. Between 1925 and 1927 the bridge was completely rebuilt to provide a 50ft-wide crossing with easier gradients. This new structure has seven arches as on the earlier bridge, but with the central five semicircular arches flattened to segmental spans. Apart from concrete strengthening saddles over the arches, the bridge is in stone and it is claimed to be one of the last stone bridges to have been built. The Shropshire Way passes the end of the bridge where the road enters the old city. ABTB, ABWWE, BA, BB, BEVA, BiB, BME, BoB, CEHWW, CoB, DB, HBS, Ward
English Bridge
The Ennerdale Bridge over the River Hull is a Dutch-style steel lifting bridge with separate twin 33m-long bascule decks. The four counterweighted balance beams above the 250t decks are supported by three A-frame piers. The bridge, opened in 1997, was designed by Rendel Palmer & Tritton. NCE
Ennerdale Bridge
See Ivybridge Viaduct, Ivybridge, Devon
Freeman Fox & Partners designed this early cable stay structure to provide a road link across the River Clyde about nine miles west of Glasgow, and it was completed in 1971. The tapering steel box section pylons that rise 125ft above the two main concrete piers support a single large-diameter cable stay on each side, the anchorage points in the 1,000ft-long main span providing it with two intermediate supports near the span’s third points, the anchorage points for the 360ft-long back spans being near the final piers of the approach viaducts. Each cable is made up of twenty-four strands three inches in diameter and the deck structure consists of an aerofoil-shaped continuous box girder with a maximum width of 103ft and a maximum depth of 10½ft. The twelve approach spans are generally 224ft long. BE, BPJ, BwS, CEHSL, NCE, Erskine Bridge
Built in 1842 to carry an accommodation road over the Bishop Auckland & Weardale Railway, this lenticular girder bridge has a clear skew span of 86ft. The top compression boom is formed from vertically curved cast iron H-sections, the bottom tension boom from a chain made from flat eyebar links. CEHN
Escomb Bridge
The first crossing of the River Esk at Longtown was built in 1756 and widened later on its upstream face. The bridge has five segmental stone arches and the piers are protected by large pointed cutwaters with sloping tops.
Esk Bridge (1756)
In 1820 Telford built a second bridge over the Esk five miles downstream. This, one of his early cast iron structures, had a central 150ft-span segmental arch flanked by smaller side arches 105ft long. In 1915 it was replaced by a 24ft-wide openspandrel reinforced concrete structure with three segmentally arched ribs. This bridge had a central span of 165ft, the longest reinforced concrete span in Britain at the time it was built, and side arches of 139ft. Later work on the site now carries the M6 over the Esk on a four-span structure that was push-launched over the river and opened in 2008. ABNE, BB, CB, IB, NTBB
Esk Bridge (1915)
The Scarborough & Whitby Railway (engineer Sir Douglas Fox & Partners) built this thirteen-arch single-track brick viaduct in 1885. Average arch span is 60ft and the three river spans over the River Esk are on a skew. The railway closed in 1961 and the viaduct now carries the Scarborough and Whitby Railway Path. BHRB, RHB
There was formerly a very long bridge here probably dating from the sixteenth century that was repaired in 1633. Records show that it had between thirty-nine and forty-six spans (some possibly just flood channels under a causeway). The magnificent stone packhorse bridge that exists now was built in 1733. It has fourteen arches, more than any other surviving packhorse bridge and, with an overall length of about 310ft, is the longest in England. The segmental arches generally span 14ft to 15ft and the triangular cutwaters to every pier extend to the low parapet level to provide pedestrian refuges. The bridge is listed Grade I and carries the Staffordshire Way. ABMEE, BB, BEVA, BME, BoB, CEHWW, DB, PBE
Essex Bridge
This reinforced concrete bowstring arch bridge spanning 99ft was built in 1932 by Owen Williams and is 20ft wide. The West Highland Way passes a short distance away. BB, BPJ, HB
Etive Bridge
One of the oldest bridges in England, this was probably built between 1190 and 1210 by Nicholas Gervase and at one stage had two chapels. Floods have damaged the bridge many times, including in 1286, 1384, 1539 and 1599, and the number of arches recorded at different times has also varied: seventeen or eighteen were recorded originally when the overall length between abutments was 580ft; there were twelve arches in 1290, sixteen were noted by William of Worcester in the midfifteenth century, and fourteen by Leland around 1540. The changes in the number were probably as a result of rebuilding following flood damage or general dilapidation. The part of the bridge over the main stream was demolished in 1778 when a new stone bridge with three spans, the largest of 50ft, was built slightly upriver by the Exeter Turnpike Trust. Eight arches from the part of the medieval bridge that crossed the flood plain north of the river now survive supporting a 12ft-wide deck. The oldest are three-ribbed semicircular arches spanning 18ft and there are also later pointed arches with five chamfered ribs. The remains of St Edmunds church tower stand adjacent to this part of the bridge. In 1905 the stone bridge of 1778 was replaced by a three-pinned steel arch structure with cast iron fascia. The current crossing consists of twin bridges completed in 1969 and 1972. These are threespan reinforced concrete beam structures. The Exe Valley Way passes nearby on the river’s south bank. BME, CEHS, FFB, JLI, ODB
Exe Bridge
This bridge was built in 1814 to reinstate an earlier walkway along the city walls, cut when a previous tower at this point had been demolished in 1753. The 19ft-span cast iron arched bridge has two segmental ribs, the spandrels filled with nine diminishing circles, supporting a 5ft-wide deck. The intricate lines of the lovely wrought iron parapets, when seen from below, present a delicate filigree-like appearance against the sky. CEHS
Exeter Cathedral Close Footbridge
See Lullingstone Viaduct, Eynsford, Kent
See Swinford Bridge, Eynsham, Oxfordshire
