Hampton in Arden packhorse bridge | |
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Coordinates | 52°25′05″N1°41′13″W / 52.418°N 1.687°W |
Crosses | River Blythe |
Locale | Hampton in Arden, England |
Heritage status | Grade II* listed building; scheduled monument |
Characteristics | |
Material | Stone |
No. of spans | 5 |
History | |
Opened | 15th century |
Location | |
Hampton in Arden packhorse bridge crosses the River Blythe near Hampton in Arden in the West Midlands (historically Warwickshire) of England, between Birmingham and Coventry. Dating from the 15th century, it is the only bridge of its kind in the area now covered by the West Midlands, and is a grade II* listed building and a scheduled monument. [1]
The bridge crosses the River Blythe between the parishes of Hampton in Arden and Berkswell. It consists of five arches, three of which are original and built from stone and two in red brick which are evidence of a later repair. The original arches are pointed (Gothic) and the later ones in segmental style. The spans of the arches vary between 9 feet 9 inches (2.97 metres) and 10 feet 2 inches (3.1 metres). The bridge is narrow, less than 6 feet (1.8 metres) wide, and has a low parapet on one side and none on the other. It has substantial triangular cutwaters on the upstream side and lesser, squared cutwaters on the downstream side. One of the piers supports the base of a cross. Above the cutwaters are refuges which allow pedestrians to move out of the carriageway. There is evidence of considerable repairs several times in the bridge's history. [1] [2] [3]
Just upstream from the bridge is a ford. In the 1830s, the Blythe Viaduct was built to carry the London and Birmingham Railway slightly upstream from the packhorse bridge and the ford. The railway viaduct and the packhorse bridge both feature in an 1838 lithograph by John Cooke Bourne. [4]
The bridge is believed to date from the 15th century. It is a packhorse bridge, once common in England. Such bridges provided safer river crossings compared with fords. Medieval traders used them with pack horses (animals laden with pannier bags containing merchandise) to carry goods to market. The bridge at Hampton in Arden is on an historical route between Hampton and Kenilworth. [5] [6] According to the historian David Harrison, the Hampton in Arden bridge is the longest surviving packhorse bridge in England, using a definition devised by Ernest Hinchliffe in 1994 of a bridge which is under 6 ft (1.8 m) wide, built before 1800, and on a known packhorse route. Hinchliffe defines most similar bridges which do not meet these criteria as cart bridges. [7]
Edwin Jervoise's survey of ancient bridges for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in the 1930s determined that Hampton's was the only notable bridge on the Blythe. [3] Another bridge known as a packhorse bridge crosses the Blythe at Blyth Hall but this bridge is much later, dating from the 18th century. [8] The bridge is a grade II* listed building and a scheduled monument, both conservation statuses which provide legal protection from demolition or unauthorised modification. It is within the River Blythe Site of Special Scientific Interest. [1]
The River Blythe flows through the English Midlands from central Warwickshire, through the Borough of Solihull and on to Coleshill in north Warwickshire. It runs along the Meriden Gap in the Midlands Plateau, is fed by the River Cole and is a tributary of the River Tame beside the West Midland Bird Club's Ladywalk reserve. This then joins the River Trent, whose waters reach the North Sea via the Humber Estuary.
The River Cole is a 25 miles (40 km) river in the English Midlands. It rises on the lower slopes of Forhill, one of the south-western ramparts of the Birmingham Plateau, at Red Hill and flows south before flowing largely north-east across the plateau to enter the River Blythe below Coleshill, near Ladywalk, shortly before the Blythe meets the Tame. This then joins the Trent, whose waters reach the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. Its source is very near the main watershed of Midland England : tributaries are few and very short except in the lower reaches, so the Cole is only a small stream.
Hampton in Arden is a village and civil parish located in the Forest of Arden in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands of England. Hampton in Arden was part of Warwickshire until the 1974 boundary changes. It lies within the Meriden Gap which is an area of countryside between Solihull and Coventry.
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