Datchet Bridge, also known as The Divided Bridge, was a road bridge which crossed the River Thames at Datchet from 1706 until it was demolished in 1848. It was situated on the reach between Old Windsor Lock and Romney Lock and linked Windsor on the Berkshire bank to Datchet on the Buckinghamshire side. The bridge replaced a ferry service which had operated at the site since at least the middle of the 13th century.
The first Datchet Bridge was a wooden bridge commissioned by Queen Anne as the crossing was a convenient back-way to Windsor Castle. Responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the crossing later passed to the counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire over whose boundary the bridge spanned. There followed many decades of dispute between the counties over who should pay for what. This culminated in 1836 with each county deciding to build their own half, in different materials and not touching in the middle. The resulting "crazy erection", Buckinghamshire's side in wood and Berkshire's in iron, known as The Divided Bridge, was demolished in 1848 and is the only case on the Thames where an established bridge crossing site has completely disappeared.
Datchet on the north bank of the River Thames has existed as a settlement since before 990 [1] but the first recorded mention of a river crossing is in 1224 when Henry III gave John le Passir a "great oak" with which to make a boat for "passage of Datchet". [2] In 1278 Edward I paid for William of Eton to a build a "great barge" for Datchet Ferry. [3] Although the Crown had provided for the vessels, the right to operate the ferry and collect tolls sat with the Lord of the Manor of Datchet. This continued until 1680 when the then Lord of the Manor, Colonel Andrew Pitcairn Wheeler, sold the Manor of Datchet to Budd Wase but kept back the ferry rights which he subsequently mortgaged for £1000 (equivalent to £172,000 today [4] ). [5] In 1699 Wheeler wrote to William III complaining that a wall built by the King along the Windsor bank was adversely affecting the ferry trade. To settle the complaint the Crown purchased the ferry rights from Colonel Wheeler for £7000 [1] (equivalent to £1,041,000 today [4] ).
The crossing was important to the Crown as the road through Datchet and across the Thames provided a convenient short route from London to Windsor Castle and the ferry was much used by Royalty and courtiers. Privy Purse records show two payments from Elizabeth of York to the Datchet ferryman in 1502 and similarly from Princess Mary in 1522 and her father Henry VIII between 1530 and 1532. [1] In Elias Ashmole's account of the 1520 Procession of the order of the Garter he describes how Queen Catherine after watching the procession returned to Windsor Castle from Colnbrook by way of "the fery [ sic ] next way to the castle." [6] The ferry however did not always provide a quick and efficient service. In 1678 the ferryman, Matthew Hale, received a formal rebuke from Charles II's Secretary of State, Henry Coventry, for unduly delaying a Royal Messenger. [3] [5] Coventry warned Hale in no uncertain terms: [5]
"You cannot but know it is your duty, whenever any messenger or express rides on the King's Service, to give immediate passage on demand, whether by night or day. Therefore, let me have no more of these complaints, for, if I have, you must hear from me in another matter."
Rebuke of ferryman Mathew Hale by Secretary of State Henry Coventry
Despite Coventry's warning Royal dissatisfaction with the inefficient service provided by the Hale Family, who by 1706 had kept the ferry for over 150 years, continued to grow. This culminated in the decision by Queen Anne to provide a fixed bridge crossing on the site. [5]
In 1706 a wooden bridge was built by order of Queen Anne to replace the ferry between Datchet, Buckinghamshire and Windsor, Berkshire. [7] It was made of oak provided by the Surveyor General of Woods South of the Trent, Edward Wilcox, who was ordered to fell "sufficient non-navy timber" from the Royal forest "for the better convenience of our passage from our Castle at Windsor". [5] [8] The building work was supervised by the Surveyor General, Samuel Travers and the final cost was £1000 [8] (equivalent to £178,000 today [4] ) The better convenience of passage was further enhanced by Queen Anne's intimate friend Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough [9] and her husband the first Duke who then lived at Langley and who had a carriage drive built from their house, over the bridge and on to Windsor Castle. [10]
Unlike the upstream toll bridges at Windsor and Maidenhead, the crossing at Datchet was toll-free for both River and road [11] and quickly became a popular crossing. Seeking compensation for loss of income on their bridges, the corporations of Windsor and Maidenhead made claims to the Treasury. In 1708 Windsor was granted an ex-gratia payment of £55 [12] (equivalent to £9800 today [4] ) plus £25 and £20 to two tenants [13] (equivalent to £4300 [4] and £3400 [4] respectively). Maidenhead's complaint, not made until 1714, was noted but no compensation paid. [14]
The bridge was initially maintained by the Crown which paid £800 (equivalent to £136,000 today [4] ) for repairs in 1737 [13] and in 1770 replaced the original all-wood structure with a bridge of ten wooden arches on stone piers. [13] By 1794 the bridge was "absolutely dangerous for carriages to pass over it and a stone one [was] now in contemplation." [13] Later the same year the central arches of the new bridge collapsed during heavy flooding and King George III deciding that he did not wish to finance the rebuilding instead instated a temporary free ferry. [7] There followed many years of wrangling between the Crown and the counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire over who should bear the cost of the building and maintenance of the bridge as the county boundary ran down the centre of the channel of the Thames thus cutting the bridge in half. The matter was forced by the intervention of John Richards, the Rector of Datchet who was also a lawyer; Richards took legal action and the resulting judgement from the King's Bench in 1809 was that the two counties must equally share the rebuilding costs, a total of £2,375 each [12] [15] (equivalent to £183,300 today [4] ). The counties, forced to co-operate, built a new wooden bridge on the old stone piers which was opened by Queen Charlotte and Princess Elizabeth on 4 December 1812. [3] [12]
The co-operation was short-lived and arguments over maintenance started again in 1834 when the Buckinghamshire side needed repairs and Berkshire refused to contribute. [16] Lack of maintenance led to the bridge collapsing once more in 1836 [7] and the counties came up with the unique solution of each building their own half. Buckinghamshire decided to rebuild with wooden railings whilst Berkshire built its half in iron suspended by chains. Kelly's Directory of 1847 noted:
"Datchet is separated from Windsor by the river Thames, over which is a very singular bridge; one half of it is kept in repair by the county of Bucks and the other half by Berks. The former has a wooden railing and the latter an iron one, suspended by chains, but neither the Bucks nor Berks sides touch each other." [17]
Even during the building the counties would not work together and had to be ordered by the Lord Chancellor to "proceed in such a manner as not to impede each other". [18] Consequently when the bridge was finished the two sides did not touch in the middle with Berkshire's final span being cantilevered out from the last Berkshire stone pier thus needing no support from the Buckinghamshire side. [15] [18] The result was an unsatisfactory, ungainly structure, sarcastically noted on opening as having "scarce a bridge upon the River Thames which surpasses it". [19] The centre gap was apparent during the Divided Bridge's whole lifetime [19] and lacking structural integrity the "hideous monstrosity" quickly became unsafe:
"It was no wonder that when Wombwell took his caravans across the crazy erection, the elephant-van broke through and the beast in it nearly came to an untimely end." [20]
The dispute between the counties was resolved once and for all in 1848 when the Windsor Castle Act 1848 decreed the dismantling of the Divided Bridge and the building of two new road bridges, Victoria Bridge slightly upstream, and Albert Bridge slightly downstream. Both new bridges opened in 1851. [21] Once the Divided Bridge was demolished the old Windsor to Datchet road was rerouted over Victoria Bridge and the Berkshire side became part of the private grounds of Windsor Castle. This is the only case on the entire Thames where a main bridge crossing has completely disappeared. [22] [23]
A small plaque erected by the Datchet Parish Council in 2000 is the only reminder of the Divided Bridge. [7] Datchet High Street which once continued on over the bridge to Berkshire ends abruptly at the Thames and the bank on the Buckinghamshire side is now occupied by a marina car park. The Crown and Angel [16] public house on the Berkshire bank depicted in many of the contemporary drawings of the bridge was demolished at the same time as the bridge; [19] a Victorian estate cottage now stands its place.
The Royal County of Berkshire, commonly known as simply Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north and the north-west, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading is the largest settlement and the county town.
Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Buckinghamshire. The town is situated 27 miles (43 km) west of Charing Cross, London and 13 miles (21 km) east-northeast of the county town of Reading. The town differs from the Parliamentary constituency of Maidenhead, which includes a number of outer suburbs and villages, including villages which form part of the Borough of Wokingham such as Twyford, Charvil, Remenham, Ruscombe and Wargrave.
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a Royal Borough of Berkshire, in South East England. While it is named after both the towns of Maidenhead and Windsor, the borough also covers the nearby towns of Ascot and Eton. It is home to Windsor Castle, Eton College, Legoland Windsor and Ascot Racecourse. It is one of four boroughs entitled to be prefixed Royal and is one of six unitary authorities in the county, which has historic and ceremonial status.
Datchet is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England, located on the north bank of the River Thames. Historically part of Buckinghamshire, and the Stoke Hundred, the village was eventually transferred to Berkshire, under the Local Government Act of 1972. The village developed because of its close proximity to Windsor and the ferry service which connected it to the main London Road across the River Thames. The ferry was later replaced by a road bridge at the foot of the High Street, which was rebuilt three times. There is also a rail bridge approaching Windsor across the river, and two road bridges above and below the village.
Windsor is a historic market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated 21.8 miles (35.1 km) west of Charing Cross, central London, 5.8 miles (9.3 km) southeast of Maidenhead, and 15.8 miles (25.4 km) east of the county town of Reading. It is immediately south of the River Thames, which forms its boundary with its smaller, ancient twin town of Eton. The village of Old Windsor, just over 2 miles (3 km) to the south, predates what is now called Windsor by around 300 years. In the past, Windsor was formally referred to as New Windsor to distinguish the two.
The Jubilee River is a hydraulic channel in southern England. It is 11.6 km (7.2 mi) long and is on average 45 metres wide. It was constructed in the late 1990s and early 2000s to take overflow from the River Thames and so alleviate flooding to areas in and around the towns of Maidenhead, Windsor, and Eton in the counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. It achieves this by taking water from the left bank of the Thames upstream of Boulter's Lock near Maidenhead and returning it via the north bank downstream of Eton. Although successful in its stated aims, residents of villages downstream, such as Wraysbury, claim it has increased flooding in those locations.
Marlow Bridge is a road traffic and foot bridge over the River Thames in England between the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire and the village of Bisham in Berkshire. It crosses the Thames just upstream of Marlow Lock, on the reach to Temple Lock. The bridge is a Grade I listed building.
The Windsor Bridge or Windsor Town Bridge, an iron and granite arch bridge over the River Thames, is located between the towns of Windsor and Eton in the English county of Berkshire. The Thames Path crosses the river here. The bridge carries pedestrian and cycle traffic, and crosses the Thames just above Romney Lock. It is a Grade II listed structure.
Eton Wick is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Eton, in the Windsor and Maidenhead district, in Berkshire, England, on the River Thames, close to the historic towns of Windsor and Eton, Slough and Dorney Lake, the rowing venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from one of its sources near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about 185 miles (298 km) long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996.
Maidenhead Bridge is a Grade I listed bridge carrying the A4 road over the River Thames between Maidenhead, Berkshire and Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. It crosses the Thames on the reach above Bray Lock, about half a mile below Boulter's Lock. The Thames Path crosses the river here.
Boulter's Lock is a lock and weir on the River Thames in England north-east of Maidenhead town centre, Berkshire. The present 1912-built lock replaces those at this point of the river to the immediate east dating from the late 16th century and that of 1772 built by the Thames Navigation Commission. The lock is on the western side of the north-south flowing reach between the A4094 Maidenhead to Cookham road and Ray Mill Island. The name is variably used for the immediate surrounding area.
Clifton Hampden Bridge is a road bridge crossing the River Thames in Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire, England, situated on the reach below Clifton Lock. Originally it joined Oxfordshire on the north bank with Berkshire on the south but in 1974 the area on the south bank was transferred from Berkshire to Oxfordshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Cookham Bridge is a road bridge in Cookham, Berkshire, carrying the A4094 road across the River Thames in England. It is on the reach above Cookham Lock and links Cookham on the Berkshire bank with Bourne End in Buckinghamshire.
Shillingford Bridge is Grade II* listed road bridge near Shillingford, Oxfordshire, carrying an unclassified road across the River Thames in England on the reach above Benson Lock. The bridge provides access between Shillingford to the north of the river and Wallingford to the south. Originally the south side was in Berkshire but was transferred from Berkshire to Oxfordshire in 1974. The bridge is single track and vehicular passage is controlled by traffic lights.
Albert Bridge is a road bridge in England running north–south and carrying the B3021 between Datchet and Old Windsor. It crosses the River Thames on the reach between Old Windsor Lock and Romney Lock. It was rebuilt in brick in 1927 to replace a cast-iron bridge built in 1850–51.
Victoria Bridge is a road bridge running north–south between Datchet and Windsor, Berkshire, England. It crosses the River Thames on the reach between Old Windsor Lock and Romney Lock. It was rebuilt in 1967 to replace a damaged bridge.
Abingdon Bridge crosses the River Thames at the town of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. It carries the A415 road from Abingdon to Dorchester, Oxfordshire, over the reach of the Thames between Culham Lock and Abingdon Lock.
The Windsor Castle Act 1848 was an Act of Parliament enacted for the British royal family that reformed land use and rights around Windsor Castle, in Berkshire. The Act's main purpose was to create Home Park. All new roads and bridges were built by 1850. The result turned the former royal estate, which was known as Little Park, into the royal private estate of Home Park.
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Anne was emotionally vulnerable and always depended very much upon her near circle of friends; Sarah was the closest of these.
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