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Bridges and Ferries Articles

Plan of Worcester's Bridge from South Side

Plan of Worcester's Bridge from South Side

Plan of the New Worcester Bridge looking from South side..


Sketch Drawings of the Bridges on the Severn

Sketch Drawings of the Bridges on the Severn

Sketch's of Bridges on the Severn - From below Upton-On-Severn to Gloucester 


A Practical Remembrance at Ironbridge Gorge

A Practical Remembrance at Ironbridge Gorge

At the place where the first iron bridge was built, what better memorial than to erect an iron foot bridge as a war memorial. It spans the Severn between the villagers of Jackfield and Coalport. It has an iron plate at each end reminding walkers....


County Bridges in Tudor & Stuart Periods

County Bridges in Tudor & Stuart Periods

There was considerable building, or rebuilding of county bridges, some of stone, during this period. In the Quarter Sessions records from 1599 to 1642 (before the Civil War). In the Quarter Sessions records from......


The Old Welsh Bridge at Shrewsbury, by Paul Sandby, c.1778

The Old Welsh Bridge at Shrewsbury, by Paul Sandby, c.1778

The Old Welsh Bridge at Shrewsbury, by Paul Sandby, c.1778 

 


An Introduction to Worcestershire's Historic Bridges

An Introduction to Worcestershire's Historic Bridges

The destruction of many of Worcestershire's ancient bridges in the first half of last century on the grounds  that they were not suited to modern traffic, has been disastrous. Many were of great historical interest, and of great beauty, but the County authority, whose duty it was to maintain them, have in the past been induced either to destroy them and build a new bridge, or to transform the old one so that it bears little resemblance to the original. Only in recent times can it be said that much attention has been given to the ........


Roman Bridges

Roman Bridges

There was considerable iron-smelting at Worcester in Roman times, and it is most probable that a bridge existed across the River Severn to enable fuel and iron-cre from the western bank to reach the bloomery hearths on the east side. When the rail bridge at Worcester was being built in 1860, great stumps of ancient timbers were taken from the bed of the river. They could have been the remains of a medieval bridge, but in the ........ 


The First Bridges

The First Bridges

Originally there were no bridges, and the streams and rivers were crossed by fords and ferries. The danger of crossing in floods, or at night, and the inconvenience of waiting for the ferry led to the building of bridges. At first a crossing was by .... 


Hanley Quay Ferry

Hanley Quay Ferry

The only reference to a ferry at this point, known to the present day, is one by Mrs. Berkeley, who in 1924, wrote of a waterside inn called the Hanley Quay, as follows:..


Upper Lode Ferry Inn.

Upper Lode Ferry Inn.

In 1791, a Cameron (of Worcester) became tenant of the ferry with the public house adjoining. The license for the pub was granted in 1564. There was no bridge between Glos. and Upton and this was the.. 


Twyning Fleet Inn

Twyning Fleet Inn

Twyning Fleet Inn Ferry

'There is a ferry attached to this hotel which lands on the Bredon side, on which a rate is levied. The ferry right was granted by charter in 17c, and up until 1923 it was a distinct advantage to the house, but due to changes in transport' 

 


Ripple 'Lock-Stake'

Ripple 'Lock-Stake'

Ripple 'Lock-Stake' was the dividing line in regulations applicable to ..


Uckinghall Ferry, Ripple

Uckinghall Ferry, Ripple

This was the last of the Severn ferries in Worcestershire. In the hamlet of Uckinghall, the battered stump of a medieval wayside cross still stands to direct travellers to the river crossing here... 


Saxon's Lode Ferry, Ripple

Saxon's Lode Ferry, Ripple

The ferry here dates back many centuries, though the name 'Saxon' is said to have been the name of a distant ferryman. There is still a well-defined road leading to the crossing on the east bank from Stratford.. 


The Crossing at Upton-On-Severn

The Crossing at Upton-On-Severn

The crossing at Upton-on-Severn is on the ancient and very important route from the Welsh border to the Avon Valley, by way of the Hollybush Pass, at the south end of the Malvern Hills. It was a route long used, back in medieval times, by the drovers of Welsh cattle and sheep to English markets. The medieval ferry was ..


The Rhydd Ferry

The Rhydd Ferry

The name Rydd comes from the Welsh word rhyd, meaning a ford or ferry, and the ford here is thought to have been one of the principal crossings of the Severn on prehistoric times, on the route to the hill camps at Malvern Hills. From Malvern there are two very good roads converging  at Rydd Green, Both wre used by Drovers from Wales. The Guarlford road, especially, is a 'classic drovers' road, crossing..


Introduction:  Worcestershire Bridges and Ferries

Introduction: Worcestershire Bridges and Ferries

Long before there were bridges there were ferries, and in days long gone, landowners, ecclesiastical and municipal authorities maintained the crossings of the river. In days when labour was cheap, the ferries were a valuable source of income not only for the ferryman, who paid for his right to ply the crossing, but for the owners as well. For centuries ferries had an important place in the...


The Two Bridges

The Two Bridges

Old Powick Bridge is thought to have been built in the early 15th century. It was certainly standing in 1550. It is divided into two parts; the eastern with two arches over the mill stream, and the west with three arches over the River Teme.....


Arley Ferry Boat

Arley Ferry Boat

Arley Ferry was the most northerly of the Worcestershire ferries, and the last to operate. The earliest reference to it is in the Close Rolls of 1323 when it was referred to as 'the Ferry'. In 1602...


Pershore New Bridge

Pershore New Bridge

When highway bridges became the repsonsibility of the County Council in 1920, it was decided that a new bridge had to be built at Pershore. Unlike as at Bransford, the old bridge was left standing,...


Worcestershire's Historic Bridges

Worcestershire's Historic Bridges

Introduction The destruction of many of Worcestershire's ancient bridges in the first half of the 19th century on the grounds that they were not suited to the modern day traffic at that time,...


Hawford Ferry

Hawford Ferry

Thomas Dix's map of 1830 shows an old road crossing the Severn just north of the junction of the River Salwarpe and the Severn.

Kepax Ferry, Barbourne, Worcester

Kepax Ferry, Barbourne, Worcester

Kepax Ferry was about a hundred yards north of the old tower of the Worcester Waterworks. Edward Corbett, in his article on Claines, says that this ferry dates from times immemorial,

Withybed Ford, Diglis, Worcester

Withybed Ford, Diglis, Worcester

The improvements in the Severn above Worcester had given a constant navigation to Stourport of 10 feet, but for some time after the building of the locks and weirs at Diglis and beyond to Lincomb, the stream below Diglis was affected by the tide.

Remains of an old Severn Ford below the Cathedral Ferry

Remains of an old Severn Ford below the Cathedral Ferry

At a meeting of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society in 1945, Mr.Alec MacDonald mentioned a discovery in part of the Severn bank,

The Grandstand Ferry

The Grandstand Ferry

Not much is known about this ferry, which was in use until the 1939-45 War. There was probably a ferry here when a wooden stand was built on the racecourse in the 18th century; perhaps even earlier, for racing has been enjoyed on Pitchcroft since the days

Dog & Duck Ferry

Dog & Duck Ferry

This is a very pretty spot opposite Pitchcroft, and a very ancient crossing of the Severn. The ferry takes its name from the old waterman's inn of that name, which in its turn, got it from a sport practiced by watermen on Sunday mornings. It was a sport which