River Parrett - Bridges and Structures

Bridges and Structures

Much of the history of the river has been defined by its bridges, which are described from mouth to source. The Drove Bridge, which marks the current extent of the Port of Bridgwater is the nearest to the mouth and the newest road bridge to cross the river. With a span of 184 feet (56 m), the bridge was constructed as part of the Bridgwater Northern Distributor road scheme (1992), and provides a navigable channel which is 66 feet (20 m) wide with 8.2 feet (2.5 m) headroom at normal spring high tides. Upstream of this is the retractable bridge built in 1871 to the design of Sir Francis Fox, the engineer for the Bristol and Exeter Railway. It carried a broad gauge (later a standard gauge) railway siding over the river to the docks, but had to be movable, to allow boats to proceed upriver. An 80-foot (24 m) section of railway track to the east of the bridge could be moved sideways, so that the main 127-foot (39 m) girders could be retracted, creating a navigable channel which was 78 feet (24 m) wide. It was manually operated for the first eight months, and then powered by a steam engine, reverting to manual operation in 1913, when the steam engine failed. The bridge was last opened in 1953, and the traverser section was demolished in 1974, but public outcry at the action resulted in the bridge being listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and the rest of the bridge was kept. It was later used as a road crossing, until the construction of the Chandos road bridge alongside it, and is now only used by pedestrians. Parts of the steam engine were moved to Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum in 1977.

The next bridge is the Town Bridge. There has been a bridge here since the 13th century, when Bridgwater was granted a charter by King John. The present bridge was designed by R. C. Else and G. B. Laffan, and the 75-foot (23 m) cast iron structure was completed in 1883. It replaced an earlier iron bridge, which was the first cast iron bridge to be built in Somerset when it was completed in 1797. The stone abutments of that bridge were reused by the later bridge, which formed the only road crossing of the river in Bridgwater until 1958. Above the bridge there were two shoals, called The Coals and The Stones, which were a hazard to barge traffic on the river, and bargees had to choose carefully when to navigate the river, to ensure that there was sufficient water to carry them over these obstructions. In March 1958 a new reinforced concrete road bridge, the Blake Bridge, was opened as part of a bypass to take traffic away from the centre of Bridgwater. It now carries the A38 and A39 roads. On the southern edge of Bridgwater is a bridge which carries the Bristol and Exeter Railway across the River Parrett. Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed a brick bridge, known as the Somerset Bridge, with a 100-foot (30 m) span but a rise of just 12 feet (3.7 m). Work started in 1838 and was completed in 1841. Brunel left the centring scaffold in place as the foundations were still settling but was forced to remove it in 1843 to reopen the river for navigation. Brunel demolished the brick arch and had replaced it with a timber arch within six months without interrupting the traffic on the railway. This was in turn replaced in 1904 by a steel girder bridge. Slightly further east is a modern concrete bridge which carries the M5 motorway over both the river and the railway line. It was started in 1971 and opened in 1973.

Before 1826, the bridge at Burrowbridge, just below the junction with the River Tone, consisted of three arches, each only a little wider than the barges which used the river. They restricted the flow of water in times of flood, and made navigation difficult. The bridge was highlighted in a report made by William Armstrong in 1824, as a factor which would prevent the River Tone Navigation competing with the new Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, then being built. An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1824 by the Turnpike Commissioners, authorising the construction of a new bridge and the removal of the old. A design for a 70-foot (21 m) single span bridge in cast iron was dropped because of the cost of cast iron at the time, and instead a stone bridge was built, which was completed in 1826. This is the longest single span masonry road bridge in the county, and was also the last toll bridge in Somerset, until it was 'freed' in 1946. It now carries the A361 road. Just below the bridge there was a shoal of rocks and stones, which was also mentioned in Armstrong's report, but no action was taken to remove it. Except on spring tides, Burrowbridge was the normal upper limit for barges riding the incoming tide. Above here, horses were used to pull the boats, either towards Langport or along the River Tone towards Taunton.

Stanmoor lock was constructed after the junction with the River Tone, but all traces of it have gone. Next to the pedestrian bridge at Stathe four living willow cones, which were woven in 1997 by Clare Wilks, have now rooted and sprouted. Oath lock no longer functions as a lock, but the sluice is used to regulate the river levels. Below Langport, the river is crossed by a lattice girder bridge, carrying the Taunton to Westbury railway line, which approaches the crossing on multi-arched viaducts. This is followed by the derelict remains of the Langport lock and sluice.

At Langport, the Great Bow Bridge, which now carries the A378, is a three-arched bridge, constructed under the terms of the Parrett Navigation Act of 1836. Completed in 1841 at a cost of £3,749, it replaced the previous medieval bridge, with its nine tiny arches, all too small to allow navigation. A bridge at this site was first mentioned in 1220. The medieval bridge consisted of a total of 31 arches, of which nine crossed the river, and 19 of the original arches were located by ground-penetrating radar in 1987, buried beneath the road which runs from Great Bow Bridge to Little Bow Bridge. The Warehouse in Langport was built in the late 18th century of English bond red brick, with Flemish bond extensions. It has clay plain tile roofs with hipped ends. It was built by the Parrett Navigation Company, a trading Company owned by Vincent Stuckey and Walter Bagehot, on the banks of the River. When the river became unnavigable, the usefulness of the building waned and it was eventually abandoned. The Somerset Trust for Sustainable Development, which became the Ecos Trust, purchased the site, designated as a brown field site, in February 2003, and worked with Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust, English Heritage and local councils to redevelop it into a craft, heritage learning and small business centre, with the surrounding land being used for an eco-friendly housing development. It is a grade II listed building.

The newest bridge across the Parrett is Cocklemoor Bridge, a pedestrian footbridge close to the Great Bow Bridge, that was erected in 2006 and forms part of the River Parrett Trail. The next bridge upstream is Bicknell's bridge, which was formerly known as Bickling bridge, which carries the road from Huish Episcopi to Muchelney. It replaced a footbridge in 1829 or 1830. At Muchelney the Westover Bridge carries a minor road over the river, and another minor road crosses on the Thorney Bridge close to the Thorney (or silent) Mill and a lock. The mill, with an iron overshot wheel, which was built to grind corn in 1823. Another bridge and mill occurs further upstream at Gawbridge west of Martock, where the mill has been the subject of a feasibility study by the South Somerset Hydropower Group. Carey's Mill Bridge was built of Ham stone in the 18th century and named after Carey's Mill which originally occupied the site. It is surrounded by a collection of buildings known as the Parrett Iron Works, founded in 1855, on the site of a former snuff mill, which included a foundry, with a prominent chimney, ropewalk, workshops and several smaller workshops and cottages. The sluice which powered the waterwheel and sluice keepers cottage still exist. Further south the river flows under the A303 road near Norton Sub Hamdon and the A356 near Chedington.