Summary
Former packhorse bridge built in the mid-C18.
Description
Former packhorse bridge built in the mid-C18.
MATERIALS: built of coursed Cotswold limestone.
DESCRIPTION: the former packhorse bridge comprises a single segmental arch with narrow voussoirs and low parapet walls with large flat coping stones.
History
The Fosse Way Bridge, a former packhorse bridge, dates from the mid-C18. Spanning the River Avon along the historic route of The Fosse Way, a Roman road built during the C1 and C2 that linked Exeter in the south-west to Lincoln in the north-east, the bridge is identified as ‘Foss Way Bridge’ on Andrew’s and Drury’s Map of Wiltshire (1773). It is also labelled as the ‘Foss Bridge’ on the Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1829-1830, and is shown as being on ‘The Foss Road’ connecting Bath and Cirencester on the tithe map for the parish of Long Newnton (1838). The tithe map demonstrates that the bridge was on land owned by Thomas Grimston Bucknall Estcourt, and formed, at that time, part of a route that ran through the Estcourt Estate. The 1st edition (1886) Ordnance Survey map, and subsequent maps, show the bridge as a footbridge, as it continues to survive today as part of a public footpath.
Reasons for Listing
The Fosse Way Bridge in Long Newnton, Gloucestershire is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as an example of a mid-C18 packhorse bridge that survives largely unaltered, retaining a significant proportion of its original fabric;
* as a well-constructed and neatly made bridge demonstrated in the quality of its masonry with features such as the narrow-cut voussoirs.
Historic interest:
* for its contribution to our understanding of the evolution and development of packhorse routes in the C18.
External Links
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
The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)