Chertsey Bridge - Chertsey, Surrey, UK
Posted by: 
OrientGeo
N 51° 23.336 W 000° 29.152
30U E 674924 N 5696076
A stone-built arch bridge, built in 1785 across the River Thames to the south west of London. The bridge links Chertsey to the west with Laleham and Shepperton to the east.
Waymark Code: WM15JQY
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/14/2022
Views: 2
The first bridge at this point on the River Thames was wooden and was built in around 1410 to replace an earlier ferry. This was eventually replaced by the current bridge which was constructed during the period 1780 to 1785. It has been repaired several times since but is essentially today the same structure. It is a road and pedestrian bridge, mostly now limited to local traffic as a substantial, modern bridge has been built 500 metres upriver to carry the M3 motorway over the Thames.
The bridge is described in the book ‘Civil Engineering Heritage - London And The Thames Valley’, By Denis Smith (2001) as follows:
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“The present bridge over the Thames replaces an earlier wooden structure first built about 1410. The new bridge designed by James Paine of Chertsey, who also designed bridges at Kew and Richmond, was built by Charles Brown of Richmond between 1780 and 1785, and is sited just upstream of the site of the older structure.
The bridge, in Purbeck ashlar, has five main segmental arches, the centre span being 42ft, with two adjacent spans of 36ft each and outset side spans of 30ft. In addition, on each side there is a 20ft masonry brick arch over the towpath and two buried arches also of 20ft span under the bridge approaches. The width of the bridge is 23ft 6in between parapets. Originally the bridge had semi-circular recesses supported by brackets over the piers on either side , but these were removed in 1805 when they were found to be insecure. In 1820, when repairs were being carried out to the bridge, cast-iron grilles were inserted over the piers, but these were subsequently repositioned over the centre of each river arch during further major repairs carried out in 1991-92. The bridge is a scheduled Ancient Monument and Listed Grade II”.
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Height of bridge: 19 feet, 1 inch
What type of traffic does this bridge support?: Motor vehicles and pedestrians.
What kind of gap does this bridge cross?:
River.
Date constructed: 1785.
Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: Yes.
Name of road or trail the bridge services: Chertsey Bridge Road (B375).
Location:
Chertsey, Surrey, UK.
Length of bridge: Not listed
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