Packington Hall Japanese Bridge
The main approach to the Hall from the south crosses the east end of Hall Pool on a double-arched bridge, built in 1750, that is about 27ft long and 22ft wide. A little to the east, and crossing the cascade between the Great and Hall Pools, is the attractive Japanese footbridge. This was built in 1762, following the earlier landscaping of the 100 acre gardens by ‘Capability’ Brown, and is a timber-decked segmentally-arched iron structure about 7½ft wide that spans about 44ft between rusticated piers.
Packington Hall Japanese Bridge
As part of the regeneration of Paddington Basin and the Paddington Arm of the Grand Junction Canal, a new network of pedestrian footways and bridges has been built there. The East (Helix) Bridge was an unusual retracting bridge. Designed by artist Marcus Taylor and engineer Aker Kværner and built in 2003, the 7m-long bridge consisted of a deck cantilevered out from one side of the canal and enclosed within a 3.5m-diameter glass tube that also contained a stainless steel helix. The glass tube and helix rotated as the deck was retracted to open the waterway, thus giving the impression that the bridge was being screwed back onto the bank.
Paddington Basin Helix Footbridge
The Helix Bridge was replaced in 2014 by the Merchant Square Footbridge (also known as the Fan Bridge), which was designed by Knight Architects with AKTII as engineers and has won a number of awards. This movable pedestrian footbridge consists of five parallel longitudinal steel beam sections that are hinged near one end on a common horizontal axis. When the bridge opens, these beams rotate upwards in sequence, but each to a different height, thus creating the appearance of an open fan. The hinge-ends of the beams are cranked vertically so that the petal-shaped counterweights project up as a feature. The deck is 3m wide and the bridge is 20m long.
The 12m-long Rolling Bridge spans an 8.5m-wide inlet into a small side dock and opens by rolling up into an octagon on one bank. In its unrolled form, the bridge is a simple truss structure consisting of eight truncated A-frame sections. These sections are pinned together at their bases to form a continuous bottom boom, the tops of the sections having a two-part link between them pinned at each end and with a central pin joint connected to the bottom boom by a hydraulic cylinder. In order to open the bridge, these pistons extend upward, causing the top boom to fold together and the eight truss sections to rotate towards each other around the bottom boom linking pins. Designed by Thomas Hatherwick and structural engineers SKM Anthony Hunts, it was completed in 2004.
The cable stay West Footbridge, built in the 1990s, has a steel Vierendeel girder at each side of the deck which also acts as the edge railings, with a fine mesh infill between the verticals. The 28m main span of these girders is supported by two pairs of stays from a simple A-frame box-section steel tower and is balanced by a single pair of stays anchored to the end of the 10m back span. F, NCE
Paddington Basin Rolling Footbridge
John Hawkshaw designed this viaduct for the Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway to carry its line over the Colne Valley, and it was completed in 1849. The viaduct has 15 arches and four iron lattice girder spans each 77ft long – representing one of the first large-scale applications of lattice girders to bridging. These spans were renewed in 1882. BHRB, BRBV, EIBT, RHB
This park, with its lake, was developed by Charles Hamilton during the period 1738–1773 and now has five interesting bridges. Entrance to the park over the River Mole is across a 3m-wide butterfly bridge, built in 1977, with two inclined steel tubular arches spanning about 35m. The Chinese bridge enables the visitor to cross the lake to Grotto Island. Recently restored, it is 5ft wide and about 72ft long overall with nine roughly equal spans, the intermediate pier bents consisting of X-braced timber posts with a small curved knee brace under each longitudinal edge beam. The handrailing consists of a simple top rail and X-braced panels between the pier supports above deck level. Grotto Island has a tufa land bridge across an inlet overlooked by the renovated crystal grotto. This brick structure, which spans about 20ft, is faced with oolitic limestone and includes artificial stalactites formed by mortaring over inverted timber cones. At the other side of Grotto Island is Woollett Bridge. The first structure here was a Palladian truss bridge spanning about 50ft, which was built in the 1750s and engraved by William Woollett. By 1770 this had been replaced by a Chinese-style crossing but a copy of the original structure was erected in 2012. The new Five Arch Bridge, with its five segmental arches built in white concrete with Portland stone copings, was opened in 2013 to restore a focal point for park views. An earlier timber structure, built in this position in the 1760s and painted to look like stone, had been destroyed about a century ago.
John Upton designed and built this fine stone bridge in 1826. It is 18ft wide and has three semi-elliptical stone arches, a central one spanning 58ft and side spans of 39ft. The two piers have low pointed cutwaters, above which are large cylindrical openings. There are also smaller openings in the abutments and through the spandrels, the tops of these being at about the same level as the top of the pier openings. The Usk Valley Walk passes the north end of the bridge. ABWWE, BA, BB, BoB, BW, CEHW, CEHWW
Pant y Goytre Bridge
The covered footbridge 60m long that links a car park to shops in Liverpool town centre consists of three equal length sections which are cranked in plan where the sections meet. The middle of the fabricated steel plate structure includes a glazed roof. The bridge was designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and engineers Arup and won a Civic Trust award in 2010.
This insignificant little segmentally-arched masonry bridge, which crosses over a ravine on what had been the ancient way between Perth and Queensferry, was built by the Adam family of architects in the eighteenth century as a commemorative folly to improve the view from their home Blairadam House. However, it includes an interesting historical record: on one side are three inscribed stone tablets describing an unsuccessful attempt here by the Earl of Rothes to kidnap Lord Darnley from Mary Queen of Scots.
Built in 1993 as part of Sheffield’s Supertram system, this bridge carries the tram tracks above Park Square into Commercial Street. The structure, which was designed by Sheffield City Council, is 100m long with its main bowstring arch spanning 75m. Steel hangers 60mm in diameter support a ladder beam deck topped by a 250mm-thick reinforced concrete slab.
Parndon Lock was built in 1769 as part of the River Stort Navigation and was later crossed by a carriage bridge supported on five oak beams. The present concrete slab footbridge, supported on central columns, is curved on plan and carries the towpath on seven 3m-long spans across the overflow weir just upstream from the lock. It is interesting because of the artistic craftsmanship of its parapet railings, which are made from welded scrap metal.
Parndon Lock Footbridge
Old Partick Bridge over the River Kelvin, built in 1577, had four semicircular stone arches with triangular cutwaters protecting the massive piers. Although it was widened early in the seventeenth century, in the nineteenth century it became inadequate and was replaced by a new bridge a short distance away. Opened in 1878, this is a single-span cast iron segmental arch structure with nine ribs. The spandrels are decorated with diminishing circles containing elaborate quatrefoils, the largest of these in turn containing the heraldic arms of Glasgow and Partick. The Kelvin Walkway now crosses the bridge. BoK, CEHSL
This graceful bridge probably dates from the early nineteenth century and has three main segmental stone arches of 31ft span. Outside these are wider piers and then smaller segmental side arches. The bridge, which is 12ft wide, is protected from scour by a paved invert and low downstream weir. St Oswald’s Way passes near the south end of the bridge. B’sB, RBN
Pauperhaugh Bridge
The medieval bridge over the River Ribble at Paythorne may date back to the fifteenth century. It has two ribbed segmental arches spanning 32ft separated by a massive central pier with pointed cutwater. Following a rebuild of the upstream side, when two extra arches were also added over the flood plain at the west end, it is now 20ft wide. The Pennine Bridleway and the Ribble Way both cross the bridge. ABNE, BLY, SYBBR
Pease Bridge was built in 1783 to avoid the Pease Burn gorge, which was considered almost impassable by artillery moving up the coast road from Newcastle via Berwick to Edinburgh. Built by David Henderson, it has four nearly semicircular arches that span between 42ft and 56ft and stand on tall piers. The spandrel above each pier is pierced by a weight-saving hollow cylinder 9ft in diameter. The 19ft-wide deck is about 117ft above water level and this remained the country’s highest bridge until Cartland Crags Bridge (qv) was completed in 1822. Pease Bridge is listed Grade A and it is now crossed by the Southern Upland Way. BPJ, CEHSL, HBEKB, TBT
Pease Bridge
The only remnant of the ancient hall is this 600 year-old stone bridge over the moat that surrounded it. The three low segmental arches, which span about 12ft, are in two orders and the two triangular cutwaters on each side are carried up to form refuges off the 9ft-wide deck.
Peel Hall Moat Bridge
This private driveway bridge, located just below a small weir on the stream running down to Penberth Cove, has a simple 9ft-span concrete deck slab but is interesting because of the 15ft-square stone gatehouse superstructure, which is supported by 9ft-span semicircular arches on each face. The upstream and downstream faces have buttresses, the larger downstream ones supporting steps up to the building’s first floor. The structure was built in about 1913. CBVH
Penberth Valley Gatehouse Bridge
The thirty-one-arch stone Penistone Viaduct was built in 1850 by the Huddersfield & Sheffield Junction Railway to carry its tracks 98ft over the River Don. In 1916, following heavy rain, subsidence beneath the foundations of a pier caused two arches to collapse, taking a locomotive down in their fall, although the crew managed to escape. BHRB, BRBV
This single arch stone bridge spans 45ft over the River Sirhowy and was built in 1824 to carry a 4ft 2in-gauge tramway. The stone block sleepers, to which the tramway’s edge rails were fixed, are still there. The tramway was converted into a railway in about 1865 and the tracks were lifted in 1914. The bridge has recently been restored and is now on the part of the Sirhowy Valley Walk within Sirhowy Valley Country Park.
Following destruction in 1846, while it was being built, of a sea wall protecting the Chester & Holyhead Railway on an exposed section of the North Wales coast, the engineer Robert Stephenson designed this replacement thirteen-span masonry viaduct with a protective apron to seaward. BHRB, CEHW, CEHWW
This privately-owned bridge was built across the Mawddach Estuary in 1880 to replace a ferry. Braced timber trestles support spans that are all 20ft long, apart from a central one that was increased to 30ft to enable possible future conversion into an opening span. Fifteen people were drowned in 1996 when a ferry crashed into the bridge. BW
This footbridge was built during the construction of the M62 to carry the country’s first long-distance footpath, the 270-mile Pennine Way, and was opened in 1965. The structure is a reinforced concrete three-pinned arch spanning 320ft, each side splitting into two separate legs. The walkers are 65ft above the busy motorway.
Pennine Way Footbridge
This handsome single-track brick viaduct over the Chew Valley is 1,000ft long with a maximum height of 95ft to deck level. It has sixteen semicircular arches, with a lower one in a massive pierced pier at each of the approximate quarter points and a central king pier. The six central spans are 50ft long while the four outside each of the pierced piers are 45ft long, thereby subtly enhancing perspective views of the viaduct. Built in 1873 by the Bristol & North Somerset Railway, the viaduct was closed in 1968 following flood damage and renovated in 2004. It now carries the Two Rivers Way. BHRB, RHB
Pensford Viaduct
Brunel’s West Cornwall Railway, opened in 1852, arrived in Penzance on a low, single-track viaduct built in a very exposed position across the edge of Mounts Bay. The viaduct was 1,041ft long with fifty-one timber spans, most of which were 19ft long. It was damaged by the sea in 1868, not being re-opened until 1871; it was given a strengthening steel framework in 1895, and replaced in 1921 by an embankment with a granite protective facing. BCV, BRBV, BTBV, RHB
In 1290 money was left for the building or repair of a bridge over the River Avon at Pershore, and a right to levy tolls to finance repairs was granted in 1337. Monks built another bridge in about 1413 after their abbot fell from stepping stones and drowned. In 1607 the bridge was again in bad condition and in 1644 the central arch was demolished to delay the Parliamentary army, eighty men being crushed or drowned during the work. The bridge now has five main semicircular arches and a larger rebuilt segmental central arch over the navigation channel. There are large triangular cutwaters on the upstream side only and, downstream of the bridge, is a modern bypass bridge. Shakespeare’s Avon Way now crosses the bridge. ABWWE, BB, BME, DB, NTBB
Pershore Bridge
An early stone bridge across the Tay at Perth was destroyed by a flood in 1210 and a later eight-arch bridge dating from 1617 was similarly destroyed in 1621. John Smeaton’s Grade A bridge was completed in 1772. The central segmental arch spans 75ft and this is flanked by a further four smaller spans on each side. Inside the structure there are longitudinal spandrel walls supporting pointed vault-like roofs, with flat wrought iron eyebars above to resist their lateral forces. The deck was originally 22ft wide between the parapet walls, but in 1869 the bridge was widened by the addition of cantilevered iron footways supported on console brackets. ABTB, BoB, BPJ, CEHSL, MBVA
Perth Bridge
The old bridge in Pickering has two main arches, which each span about 18ft, together with two dry approach spans to the west that may have been earlier flood arches. The original medieval easternmost semicircular arch has three ribs and is decorated with an archivolt ring. During eighteenth century rebuildings and widenings this arch has been extended to the south with a segmental arch span, and the neighbouring arch is now segmental throughout. The abutments and the central pier are decorated with pilasters, and the current width between parapets varies between about 20ft and 24ft. An interesting feature of the bridge is the side arch, almost like a flying buttress, located on the north face of the bridge between the main and approach arches and carrying a footway from the bridge deck down steps to give access to ground level. ABNE
Pickering Bridge
The first structure to be built across the River Tees at Piercebridge was a timber bridge built by the Romans in the late first century to carry their road from Catterick to Binchester; they later built a second timber bridge nearby, this time on masonry piers. English Heritage now looks after the site and its ruins. A medieval bridge was mentioned in 1243 but the present bridge, a little to the north and upstream from the Roman bridge site, dates from the early sixteenth century. This has three graceful slightly pointed stone arches with three rings of voussoirs. The two river piers are protected by large triangular cutwaters that continue up to parapet level. The bridge was damaged by floods in 1771 and repaired and widened on its downstream face in 1797 and is now more than 31ft wide. During the Piercebridge Battle of 1642, the Royalists successfully defended the bridge against a Parliamentary attack. The Teesdale Way passes the north end of the bridge. ABNE, BB, BCD, BEVA, BME, BND, SYBBR
Piercebridge Bridge
This handsome packhorse bridge over the River Yeo probably dates from the seventeenth century. The 4ft-wide trackway is supported by three semicircular arches spanning between narrow piers protected by tall triangular cutwaters that taper off gradually into the parapet walls. These, which are unusually thick, are about 3ft high. ABSE, PBE
There was a bridge on this site in the sixteenth century, but the present 14ft-wide bridge over the main arm of the River Nene at Pilton dates from 1796. It is a three-arched stone bridge with a central segmental arch spanning about 66ft flanked by side spans of about 37ft. The outer faces of the bridge are slightly battered and the high parapet walls are lightened by tall Gothic arched piercings. The Nene Way passes near the south-east end of the bridge. ABMEE, BG
Telford built a single-arched brick aqueduct over the stream at Pimley to carry the Shrewsbury Canal. When the canal was closed in the 1960s the aqueduct was demolished and a new footbridge built between its abutments. This now carries the Shropshire Way. TTA, TTE
This handsome private park carriageway bridge was built in 1769 to a design by Robert Adam. It has three segmental stone arch spans with a narrow archivolt ring outside the voussoirs, the stonework in the spandrels above it being laid radially. The piers are decorated with wide shallow pilasters that continue up to become solid parapet walls with elegant balustrades over the arches. BiB
Pinford Bridge
This 67m-long footbridge across a busy London road, completed in 2000, provides an all-weather link between two parts of a school. The bridge has plate girders along each edge and is supported by portal frame piers at each end and inverted L-shaped intermediate columns. A fabric roof tensioned across elliptical steel hoops encloses the footway. The principal designer was Birds Portchmouth Russum Architects with engineers Techniker. F, NCE
In 1558 the bridge across the ditch between the motte and south bailey at Pleshey Castle was reported as already being old; indeed it may date from the late fourteenth century and is considered to be the oldest surviving brick bridge in Britain. The Grade I structure has a pointed arch spanning 18ft between tall abutments, which are strengthened by triangular buttresses, and supports a deck 9ft wide. The bridge suffered from unsympathetic remedial work in the 1960s. ABMEE
Pleshey Castle Bridge
This very attractive stone arch bridge dates from 1715. Standing over a pool just above a weir, the bridge has been built with its springings exactly at water level, allowing the semicircular arch and its reflection to form a perfect circle. HB
One of the very few covered bridges in Britain, this structure on the National Trust estate was probably built between 1906 and 1910 by Mrs Greville, the society hostess. The 9ft-wide timber beam bridge, which spans about 25ft across a 10ft-wide sunken lane, has a timber-framed barn-like superstructure with six window openings along each side and is topped by a thatched roof. The bridge is complemented by the Jubilee Bridge, a green oak beam structure built across the sunken lane a short distance away in 2003 to provide a circular walk through this end of the estate. TimB
Polesden Lacey Thatched Bridge
The suspension bridge here over the River Dee has wire rope cables spanning 150ft between lattice towers and is stiffened by lattice truss parapets. The tops of alternate hangers have cross bar stays between them over the footway, which gives what has been described as a ‘ladder-like effect’. The structure was built by James Abernethy & Co in 1892. CEHSH, HB
Built by Cambrian Railways and opened in 1867, the original twenty-two-span bridge here across Afon Dwyryd was a rare nineteenth century timber road and railway viaduct. In 1932 it was rebuilt and widened but in 2010 speed and weight restrictions were imposed. In 2013 work began on a replacement structure to carry a single-track railway, two-lane carriageway and the Wales Coast Path – the railway opened in 2014 and the rest in 2015. The two new concrete superstructures, which share the same piers, each have six spans of prestressed concrete bridge beams supporting a reinforced concrete deck. BW
This handsome 12ft-wide stone bridge of five segmental masonry arches crosses the River Dee at Carrog and was built in 1661. The pointed cutwaters extend up to form pedestrian refuges. The Dee Valley Way passes the north end of the bridge. ABWWE, BW, CEHWW
Pont Carrog
The road bridge over the River Dee near Telford’s great Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (qv) was originally built in 1697, but was greatly rebuilt and slightly widened in the eighteenth century. It has three segmental stone arches with double arch rings. The keystones of the lower rings project forward slightly, an early example of a stylistic device that became common about 100 years later. The triangular cutwaters continue up to parapet level. The bridge is listed Grade I and Offa’s Dyke Path crosses the Dee on it. ABWWE, BEVA, NTBB, PAC
A bridge here across the River Dovey was recorded in 1579 and a replacement structure was built in 1635. This 8ft-wide packhorse bridge, now in the care of Cadw, consists only of two segmental arch stone rings, each spanning about 60ft with no deck structure or parapets above. The intermediate pier is sharply pointed. ABWWE, BW
The simple segmentally-arched packhorse bridge here over Afon Ogwen, probably dating from the eighteenth century, now consists of the voussoirs only and was bypassed when Telford built his bridge just to its west. Telford’s structure, also a segmental arch, is built of random rubble and was built in the 1820s as part of his London to Holyhead turnpike. It is decorated with a simple slate string course running immediately over the arch crown and with pilasters above the abutments. When the A5 was improved in the middle of the twentieth century, this later bridge was widened on its east side directly over the original packhorse bridge, thus becoming part of a rare double bridge.
John Reynolds built this bridge in 1827 as an aqueduct to carry the supply to a water wheel powering his two ironworks blast furnaces. There are four 75ft-span segmental stone arches standing on thick piers and the deck is over 75ft high. The structure is unusually narrow, the width between parapets being only 11ft, giving it a striking overall appearance. It is also one of the most versatile bridge structures to have been built in Britain: in 1841 the original aqueduct was converted to carry a single-track railway for the English Copper Company and in 1903 converted again to take road traffic, though it is now restricted to cyclists and pedestrians. BHRB, BW, CEHW
Pont Rhyd y Fen Aqueduct
The medieval bridge here is known to have been standing in 1571. It has three main pointed arches and three smaller flood arches and has a 9ft-wide deck with refuges over the pointed cutwaters. The bridge was bypassed in 1966 and is now restricted to pedestrians. ABWWE, BW, CEHW
This bridge is claimed to be the world’s first iron tramway bridge. Originally built in 1793 with a tramway for tubs carrying limestone above an iron trough that brought water to the nearby ironworks, it is now a pedestrian bridge and carries the Taff Trail. A cast iron A-frame on each side supports the 47ft-long box-section deck at its quarter and mid-span points. BHRB, BMT, BoW, CEHW, CEHWW, DoD, IB
Pont y Cafnau
The cycle and footbridge (Dragon’s Bridge in English) that carries the Wales Coast Path across the River Clwyd in Rhyl Harbour was designed by engineers Gifford & Partners and opened in 2013. The twin cable-hoisted bascule lifting spans, each 32m long, are made of glass fibre-reinforced polymers and are pivoted at the base of a central pier. Above this is a 45m-tall mast through which the hoist cables pass to the below-deck drives.
Pont y Ddraig
This magnificent Grade I structure was built between 1795 and 1805 to carry the uncompleted main line, now the Llangollen branch of the Ellesmere Canal, 120ft over the Dee valley near Ruabon. William Jessop was the principal engineer for the canal and Thomas Telford the engineer who designed the aqueduct. The cast iron canal trough is 1,027ft long and 11ft wide by 5ft deep, with a 4ft-wide towpath cantilevered over one side of the waterway on brackets, and is supported by four cast iron arch ribs over the nineteen 44½ft-long spans. The upper part of each of the slender intermediate stone piers is hollow in order to reduce the structure’s overall weight. The aqueduct is the longest and highest in Britain and has recently become a World Heritage Site. The first major refurbishment of the aqueduct since it was opened included building a replacement towpath based on the original, but long-replaced, configuration, thus adding to the historical authenticity of this iconic structure. This work was recognised by a Historic Bridge and Infrastructure Award in 2004 and is also part of the World Heritage Site. ABTB, BA, BBPS, BEVA, BiB, BoB, CAB, CEHW, CEHWW, DB, DoB, DoD, IB, NTBB, PAC, TT, TTA, Wakelin
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
An earlier timber structure over the River Taff here was repaired and rebuilt several times, including in 1722 and 1725. It was replaced in 1811 by the present stone bridge. This has a single slightly pointed segmental arch spanning 55ft, and the road narrows on the steep approaches to the crown. The bridge was rebuilt in 1989 after it had been distorted by mining subsidence and it carries the Taff Trail. ABWWE, BMT, BW, CEHWW
Pontygwaith Bridge
The sequence of bridges that the self-taught local mason (and Baptist minister) William Edwards built over the Taff at Pontypridd provide one of the most celebrated sagas of British bridge-building. The first bridge, started in 1746 and completed in 1750, was a three-arch structure that was swept away by floods within three years. Edwards’s second bridge, designed to avoid flood damage by leaping the river in a single 140ft-long segmental arch span, was also destroyed by floods during its construction while it was still supported by its centring across the river. In November 1754, during its rebuilding, the bridge again collapsed, this time as a result of an unstable design that caused the heavy weight of the structure at the abutments to force the crown upwards. In his successful final attempt, completed in 1756, Edwards rebuilt the arch with the same 140ft span but with three large cylindrical tunnels through each of the spandrels to lighten the bridge haunches. The bridge is 11ft wide and the structural arch ring is only 2½ft deep. The bridge remained the longest span bridge in Britain until Wearmouth Bridge (qv) opened in 1796, and the longest masonry span until 1833 when Grosvenor Bridge (qv) at Chester was completed. However, the steepness of the approaches caused problems to traffic and a new level-decked three-span arched bridge was built in the middle of the nineteenth century, unfortunately very close to Edwards’s masterpiece. The bridge is listed Grade I. AB, ABTB, ABWWE, BB, BBPS, BEVA, BiB, BoB, BW, CEHW, CEHWW, DoB, MBVA, NTBB, Richards
Pontypridd Bridge
This private bridge in Ashdown Forest, made famous by Ernest H. Shepard’s illustrations for A. A. Milne’s 1928 book The House at Pooh Corner, is where the game of Poohsticks originated. First built in 1907 by J. C. Osman, the bridge was restored in 1979, then totally rebuilt in 1999 by the East Sussex County Council and the Countryside Commission. It is about 10ft wide and has two main spans of about 8ft and two slightly shorter end spans, all consisting of simple edge beams supporting the deck. There are curved knee braces each side of the intermediate piers, and three-barred side railings.
Pooh Bridge
A ferry service between old Poole and Hamworthy ended in 1834 with the opening of a wooden toll bridge. This had a central hand-operated swinging section to enable ships to reach the upper parts of Poole Harbour. In 1885 the steep rise onto this bridge was eliminated with the opening of a replacement iron lattice girder toll bridge. This, in turn, was replaced when the present double-leaf rolling bascule bridge was completed in 1927, since when it has lifted an estimated 400,000 times. Each leaf is about 34ft long and the bridge carries an 18ft-wide road and two 5ft-wide footways. The Twin Sails Bridge (qv) was built in 2012 to provide a second crossing.
The river from Loch Maree tumbles precipitately beneath the stone bridge at Poolewe to meet the sea a short distance away at Loch Ewe. The bridge has a single segmental arch built on a skew, its splayed voussoirs tapering slightly in depth from the stepped abutments to the crown. HB
Poolewe Bridge
This footbridge, designed by Ahrends, Burton & Koralek, was completed in 1993 to provide access to Poplar station and improve local links as part of work to extend the Docklands Light Railway to Beckton. The cable stay structure consists of a single central pier, made up of a linked pair of cylindrical steel pylons, from which three balanced sets of stays support a steel box beam deck. This is covered by an arched canopy of toughened glass spanning between curved steel mullions.
Poplar Station Footbridge
The first bridge on this site, a fourteen-span timber structure, was built in 1836 by Robert Stevenson, but had to be replaced in 1851 because of scour damage to its foundations. Its replacement was a suspension bridge, designed by George Martin, with a 13ft-wide deck that spans 414ft between Greek-styled towers designed by architect Alexander Kirkland. These are in the form of triumphal archways decorated with attached Ionic columns on the outer faces and Corinthian on the inner. Double chains supported a trussed girder on each side of the deck. In 1871 the bridge was largely rebuilt with new chains supporting a new flatter-profile deck, the sides of which are protected by iron fretwork railings, and the deck and hangers were again substantially renewed in 1926. The bridge is listed Grade A and the Clyde Walkway passes its northern end. F, NTBB
Portland Street Footbridge
This bridge is of uncertain age, possibly dating from about 1300, though records only go back to 1655. It originally carried the Moretonhampstead to Yelverton road over the East Dart and is a clapper bridge of three spans, each consisting of cyclopean stone slabs 7ft to 8ft wide and about 1ft thick, the heaviest of which may weigh up to 8 tons. These slabs span from 9ft to 13ft between coursed drystone piers and abutments. The road was realigned over a new bridge in the late eighteenth century and the bridge itself has twice needed major repairs: the replacement in 1879 of a fallen slab and the complete reconstruction of the piers in the 1970s. BB, BBPS, BEVA, BG, BiB, BoB, CEHS, DB, DoB, FSB, ODB, Greeves
Postbridge
This 12ft-wide fourteenth-century bridge has a main segmental arch of 21ft span and its low clearance of only 7ft is notorious among the holidaymakers cruising on the Norfolk Broads. It is flanked by a low, sharply pointed arch on each side. Each abutment is embellished with unusual cantilevered buttresses. The brickwork parapet probably dates from the 1920s. The Weavers’ Way crosses the River Thurne by this bridge. ABMEE, BB, CEHE, DB
Potter Heigham Bridge
Indulgences were granted in 1447 for the maintenance of Powick Bridge over the River Teme, and in 1605 problems reported over the previous seven years were finally repaired. Further repairs were made in 1633. The Grade I stone bridge now has three flat segmental arches, each spanning about 20ft between massive piers, with two smaller side arches over a mill stream. The main arches cross the river on a noticeable skew. The first fighting of the Civil War took place here in 1642 when Parliamentary forces crossed the bridge to attack Royalist cavalry resting on the other side, but were repulsed. There was further action at the bridge as part of the Battle of Worcester in 1651 – one of the largest battles ever fought in England and the final Civil War battle. The old bridge was bypassed in 1837 by a 69ft-span segmental cast iron arch, the spandrels above the seven ribs having elegant X-bracing. There is also a 15ft-span pointed cast iron side arch behind each abutment. A concrete deck was built to replace the original cast iron plate deck in 1957 and 1968. The Monarch’s Way starts at the northern end of the bridge. ABWWE, BBt, BME, CEHWW
Powick Bridge (1837)
The first bridge over the River Wear on this site near the southern tip of the Durham peninsula was a timber structure on stone piers built in 1574 for horse and foot traffic only. A later stone bridge built in 1696 was swept away in the 1771 floods and replaced by the present graceful bridge, designed by the cathedral architect George Nicholson, which was completed in 1775. This has three 67ft-span semicircular stone arches with heavily rusticated voussoirs. The rear of each of the pointed cutwaters extends up to provide a semi-hexagonal refuge. A dentilled string course supports the solid parapet, which is relieved with short open balustrade sections above the centres of the outer arches. The bridge was restored in 1956 and is listed Grade I. The Weardale Way passes along the riverbank under the east end of the bridge. ABNE, BBPS, BCD, BiB, BND, BRW, BRWe, CEHN
Prebends’ Bridge
The stone bridge over the Ribble at Preston was built in 1403 to replace an earlier timber structure, and had five pointed arches. In 1648 Cromwell’s forces stormed and took the bridge, killing more than 1,000 Scots loyal to the king who were holding it. The bridge was replaced by a new bridge in 1781, this having three segmental stone arches, the central one spanning about 90ft. It is now about 85ft wide, having been widened on its upstream face, and is sometimes called Walton Bridge. The Ribble Way passes under its north end. ABNE, BBt, BME
Preston Bridge
Preston Green is about the midway point of the thirteen-mile southern section of the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal (opened in 1816). It is therefore a good point for seeing some of the split bridges that are characteristic of the canal. These have cast iron half-decks, cantilevered from brick abutments on each bank, which do not meet at the centre of the span but are separated by a narrow gap through which the towropes for the barges could be passed. SBIW
Preston Green Canal Bridge
A temporary wooden bridge, built in Kelvingrove Park in 1868 to carry a royal procession over the River Kelvin to the site of the new university buildings, stood for more than twenty-five years. In 1895 it was replaced by a handsome classical-style masonry arch bridge complete with heavily rusticated voussoirs, a fine balustrade and carved spandrel panels. BoK
This footbridge, based on a winning competition entry by architectural student Eduard Ross, was designed by him, Ian Wroot and Arup. It crosses the Liverpool to Leeds Canal link and was completed in 2001, being later altered to give greater headroom for canal traffic. The structure is a 30m-span tubular steel bowstring arch which is higher at one end. This divides at about mid-span to appear in plan somewhat like a wishbone. The higher, single-tube end is supported by curved side members like ribs, with further such ribs, diminishing in size, hanging off the main tubes to support the 2.5m-wide aluminium plank deck and the aluminium cladding which partially encloses the footway. The bridge is located near the start of the Trans Pennine Trail.
Prince’s Dock Footbridge
Engineers Buro Happold and architects Broadway Malyan were the designers for a 16m-long pedestrian swing bridge over the Stainforth & Keadby Canal, built in 2005. The new bridge links two sides of the community in Thorne and uses the old foundations of two former swing bridges that were used before the adjacent A614 road was built. It is a balanced asymmetric swing bridge, its timber deck being supported along one edge by a horizontal 457mm diameter steel tube and tubular steel outriggers projecting from the side of the main tube.
The architect Richard Jones designed the magnificent Grade I Palladian bridge over the upper end of the larger lake in Ralph Allen’s landscaped Prior Park in 1755 as an eyecatcher half a mile down the steep valley from the house. It is a close replica of the bridges built at Wilton House (qv) and Stowe House (qv) in 1737 and 1739. The main bridge structure consists of a single segmental arch spanning 18ft flanked on each side by a small semicircular arch. Above is a superstructure of a five-bay Ionic colonnade, its central bay slightly wider than the others, which links two single-bay arched and pedimented end pavilions. The bridge is approached at each end by a flight of steps over another segmental arch. Beneath the Grade I bridge, a short distance below the springing points of the arches, there is a dam keeping the lake at two levels.
Prior Park Palladian Bridge
Prior Park Sham Bridge
Immediately below the house, at one end of a pond running along the side of the valley, is a small sham bridge built in about 1740 by Allen’s friend, the poet Alexander Pope. This has three segmental arches with vermiculated voussoirs and pediments. The parkland is now owned by the National Trust. NTBB, PB
An early ferry across the River Arun was known to have existed in 1350. Later timber bridges were finally replaced at the end of the seventeenth century by a lengthy causeway and a stone bridge, also known as the Swan Bridge. This has four semicircular arches with pointed cutwaters that taper into pilasters at the arch springing level. ABSE, NBBB
Pulborough (Swan) Bridge
Pulteney Bridge is one of the last river bridges to be constructed in this country with a superstructure of buildings. Designed by Robert Adam and completed in 1773, the bridge is 58ft wide and has three segmental arches, each spanning 33ft with a rise of 11ft. These support two rows of eleven small shops with attics above and, for the shops above the piers, cellars within the piers. In 1799 one of the river piers sank and a flood the following year led to the collapse of the northern part of the bridge together with many of the buildings on that side. When these were rebuilt in the early 1800s their architecture was different from the buildings on the south side and it was not until 1975 that the bridge again looked as it had when first completed. Unfortunately, there is no view of the river from the bridge, but the view of it from downstream shows the huge central Venetian window and the delicate domes of the end pavilions. The bridge is listed Grade I. ABTB, BB, BBPS, BEVA, BiB, BoB, DB, MBVA
Pulteney Bridge
The east end of the lake in the privately-owned Pusey House estate is crossed by an attractive timber bridge that carries a footpath linking the house to the estate church. The bridge, originally built in around 1760, has elaborate railings in the Chippendale style, possibly leading it to be described as a Chinese bridge, and a distinctive arched brace outside the supporting post at each bent. There are six 10ft-long spans and the deck is 4ft wide.
Pusey House Park Footbridge
There have been two bridges crossing the River Thames in this location. Fulham Bridge, the name of the first bridge at this site for most of its life, was built over the Thames on the twenty-mile stretch between Old London Bridge (qv) and Kingston Bridge (qv), replacing an ancient ferry service. The original design was by Sir Jacob Ackworth and the work on site was led by master carpenter John Phillips. The bridge was originally seen as a temporary structure until something more substantial could be constructed. However, in the end, it lasted for some 150 years. There were twenty-six spans, a central one of 30ft flanked by one at 28ft and three spans at 25ft, with the remainder alternating between 10ft and 15ft. The bridge was 23ft wide, consisting of a 19ft carriageway and a single 4ft-wide footway on the east side with triangular recesses above each pier for the safety of those crossing by foot. Driving the timber piles for the piers began in early 1729 and the bridge was completed and opened later in the same year. A problem with the bridge was that the passageway for boats was very restricted so the central opening or lock was widened in 1871–72. Two piers were removed and the three timber spans were replaced by wrought iron lattice girders supported by new cast iron cylindrical piers sunk into the river bed, giving a clear waterway of 70ft.
Following the purchase of the old bridge by the Metropolitan Board of Works, a new structure, designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, was built slightly upstream on a line previously occupied by a pipe aqueduct belonging to the Chelsea Waterworks Co. This bridge consists of five masonry segmental stepped-arch spans – a central span of 144ft flanked either side by spans of 129ft and 112ft – with distinctively banded granite facings. The bridge was originally 44ft wide. Work began in 1882 and the Prince of Wales opened the new bridge in 1886. Between 1931 and 1933 the bridge was widened by 30ft to give an overall width of 74ft, the extension being built in concrete with the original facing taken down and reused. BBL, BE, BME, BoT, CLR, CR, CRT, DoB, LBC, LBCRR, LBM, SR, TBDS, TC, Dewe
In 1886 the London & South Western Railway gained Parliamentary approval to extend its branch line, which ran from West London via West Brompton to the north bank of the river, across the Thames and on to Putney and Wimbledon. For the main structure W. H. Thomas and William Jacomb designed an eight-span wrought iron lattice girder nearly 1,100ft long. There are five 153ft spans over the river with additional 100ft spans on the two banks, and the bridge is 30ft wide. The river piers consist of pairs of cast iron cylinders sunk into the riverbed and filled with concrete. There is an 8ft-wide footway on the downstream side with decorative cast iron parapet. Work started in 1887 and the bridge was opened to traffic on 3 June 1889. A pillbox from the Second World War still stands guard at the north end of the bridge. BoT, CLR, CR, CRT, LBC, LBCRR, LBM, TBDS, TC
Thomas Kymer built this arch bridge over the Gwendraeth River in about 1770 to carry an early tramway that was used to transport coal between his pits and a nearby canal wharf. It is considered to be the oldest tramway bridge in Wales. BW
This unusual structure carries a minor road over the River Creedy about a quarter of a mile upstream from Cowley Bridge (qv) and was built in the early nineteenth century to replace a five-arch stone bridge. It has three segmentally arched brick spans, the intermediate piers each consisting of a line of four Doric stone columns. The skewed brick arches spring from a cast iron beam which itself spans in a shallow arch between these columns. The Exe Valley Way crosses the river by this bridge. ODB
Pynes Bridge