Description

WEYMOUTH

SY6778NE Town Bridge
873-1/23/2

GV II

Bascule road bridge crossing the Harbour, and linking Old
Weymouth with Melcombe Regis. 1930. Steel bascules, Portland
ashlar abutments and arches with some coursed sandstone.
The bridge has a nearly level roadway carried on bascules to a
flat segmental arch between formal abutments with square
corner buttresses.
At the S end, connecting with Trinity Road, a parapet wall to
the height of the abutments swings round in a segment, and the
Harbour wall is swept round to meet it, containing a small
platform to the W, and a similar platform to the E, but with a
set of steps within ashlar walls. At the N end, leading into
St Thomas Street, there is a similar abutment, with a pavilion
for the bridge controller, then 2 low segmental arches over
the quayside road, with stone parapets, stopped on the E side
to a flight of 20 steps to the Quay level.
The bascule section has a steel balustrade in 10 panels each
side, with a broad teak handrail. The end abutments are in
channelled ashlar, with a square opening with paired doors at
the lower level, surmounted by a cornice at roadway level. The
corner buttresses provide recessed embayments at pavement
level, and an entry to the control building on the NE unit;
they are terminated with prominent steel lanterns, 6 in all,
on open truncated pyramidal bases and with a trellis top. The
control pavilion has a low stone weathered roof above a
cornice, and is semi-octagonal on the E side, with a glazed
door from the pavement, and a single casement to 5 outer
facets, above 4 oculi and a door on the water side.
At the St Thomas Street end the 2 segmental arches over the
low road are in concrete cast on permanent steel shuttering,
and there is a low connecting arch in the wall between the 2
throughways; most of the stonework here, and in the lower
parts of the abutment retaining walls, is in grey sandstone.
There are 4 commemorative plaques or tablets: on the NW
abutment, in the embayment facing the pavement, is a granite
panel inscribed: 'From Weymouth New England to Weymouth in Old
England: 1930', and on the opposite side a bronze plate
records 'This bridge was opened by HRH the Duke of York on the
4th July 1930.....', also gives Bolton and Larkin Ltd as the
general contractors, Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Co Ltd
as steelwork contractors, and RW Vince as the Borough

Surveyor. At the S end, to the E the plaque records the
Council members for 1929/30, and opposite the bronze plaque
gives historical information about this and previous bridges.
It also records that the bridge was built by the Corporation,
the cost being shared between the Borough Council, Dorset
County Council and the Ministry of Transport.
Town Bridge inevitably holds an important position visually in
the town, and has been designed to give a dignified character.
At the same time it is of considerable historical interest; a
bridge was built, to replace a rope ferry, in 1597, rebuilt 3
times in the C18, the last in 1769, when it was moved from the
former alignment opposite Nicholas Street to the present
location. In 1821 a new 'permanent' bridge was sought, and
built in 1824. This is known to have had a toll gate at the
Melcombe Regis end in 1857.
The 1824 bridge was replaced by the present structure which
has importance in the townscape. It is a fine example of its
type displaying both technological and architectural
virtuosity.
(Ricketts E: The Buildings of Old Weymouth: Melcombe Regis and
Westham: Weymouth: 1975-: 111).

Listing NGR: SY6786778716

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Town Bridge at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26599840

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)