Bridges

The Banbury Lane DCL 68 Railway Bridge was built in 1848 for the Great Western Railway. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a famous engineer who revolutionised public transport and is one of the most important people in engineering history. The bridge is one of his earliest cast-iron girder designs and is the only one left in complete condition.

The Blisworth Railway Bridge was built by the London and Birmingham Railway around 1837. It crosses the Northampton Road and features a single arch made of red brick and grey lias limestone.

Braunston Link ​Bridge 93 is a wrought-iron bridge on the Grand Union Canal and was built around 1830. It is a turnover bridge, which allows horses towing boats to cross the river without detaching the tow line.

Braunston Wharf Bridge, or Braunston Link Bridge 91a, is a 19th-century footbridge. The bridge marks the site where the originally slow and winding Oxford Canal joined the Grand Junction Canal near Braunston. It is made of brick and cast iron and it is largely painted white, including the underside, in the tradition of whitewashing canal bridges.

​Brockhall Park Bridge arcs over the long, narrow lake on the Brockhall Park estate. It was built around 1800 and is made of ironstone ashlar and brick.

The Charles I Bridge is a 17th-century bridge over the River Avon on the grounds of Stanford Hall. It is made of lias ashlar and brick and has four segmental arches. Stanford the town is in Leicestershire, but the country house is in Northamptonshire. The estate includes a ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’ due to the number of lichen species. Over 25 species were found on the King Charles I bridge alone. Formerly known as Horse Bridge, the bridge was renamed because it is believed King Charles I used the bridge on his way to and from the Battle of Naseby during the English Civil War.

Collingtree Bridge is a late 19th-century bridge on the former grounds of Collingtree Grange. The Grange was built for Pickering Phipps, a local politician, and it included a park and lodges. The bridge was part of its grand design. Despite many car accidents happening at the spot in the 1920s and ‘30s, the bridge was kept when the Grange was demolished.

Cottesbrooke Hall Bridge is a late 18th-century bridge over a lake on the grounds of Cottesbrooke Hall. It was built by Robert Mitchell, who added stonework decorations to the country house at some time between the 1770s and 1790s. The bridge is made of limestone ashlar and was part of the original entrance to the estate.

Deene Park Bridge is a mid-18th-century bridge over an ornamental canal southeast of Deene Park. It is made of limestone ashlar and it is thought that the sections of the railing are reused elements from an earlier structure.

Gayton Bridge, or Mainline Bridge 45, is a late 18th-century or early 19th-century bridge on the Grand Union Canal. It is a single arch, humpback bridge built with limestone blocks.

​Green Bridge was built around 1750 on the former grounds of Horton Hall. It is an English Rococo design that acts as a dam to create a lake above it and allows water flow over a weir underneath it. It is made of limestone ashlar and is in poor condition today.

The bridge also features supposedly ritual marks, which have attracted Wiccans to hold ceremonies at the site.

The Irthlingborough Bridge is a 14th-century, stone bridge over the River Nene. It was altered in the 17th, 18th and 20th centuries. Most of the bridge’s ten arches are pointed medieval-type, but some are in a different style.

​The King’s Cliffe Bridge is a late 18th-century to early 19th-century bridge over Willow Brook. It was renovated in 1999 and renamed Leycester’s Bridge in memory of a villager who had died at sea. It is also the site of the village’s annual duck race.

The London and North Western Railway Company (L&NWR) was formed in 1846 and became one of the largest railway companies in the country. The Lubenham L&NWR Railway Bridge was built for the opening of the Rugby to Stamford branch railway line in 1849. Lubenham is in Leicestershire, but the bridge is just within Northamptonshire. It was built by nationally important engineer Robert Benson Dockrey and is known for its rare double arch design.

Mainline Bridge 12 is a mid-19th-century bridge at Long Buckby Wharf on the Grand Union Canal. It is in the middle of an impressive flight of seven locks called the Whilton Locks.

Mainline Bridge 43 is a late 18th- or early 19th-century bridge on the Grand Union Canal. It carries Banbury Lane over the canal at Anchor Farm. It is made of Northampton Sand (ironstone) with a decorative band of Wellingborough Limestone and differs from nearby bridges because of its earlier construction and style.

​Mainline Turnover Bridge 47 is a late 18th-century or early 19th-century bridge on the Grand Union Canal. The style of the bridge allowed the horse pulling the boat to switch sides of the river, without unhitching the tow rope.

Marston House Bridge is an 18th-century, humpback bridge over landscaped ponds in the grounds of Marston House. It is made of ashlar, limestone and ironstone, faced with red brick to the north.

​Mount Mill Bridge is an early 19th-century bridge over the disused Buckingham Arm of the Grand Union Canal. It is one of 27 bridges on the Buckingham Arm, but is the only one listed. The Buckingham Arm of the canal was disused from 1932 and fully abandoned in 1964. Mount Mill Bridge remains as a lonely monument in a field.

Nelson Bridge is a late 18th-century, humpback bridge on the Grand Union Canal. Officially called Braunston Link Lock Bridge 4, it is known as Nelson Bridge because it is next to the Admiral Nelson pub.

​Old Stratford Bridge is a stone bridge over the River Great Ouse, the boundary between Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. It is also known as Stony Stratford Bridge because it connects Old Stratford and Stony Straford. Both names come from the Saxon word for ‘street over the ford’. The street was the important Roman Watling Road.

In January 1800, a shoemaker called Baldwin fell off the slippery bridge and drowned in the river. Perhaps because of accidents like this, Parliament passed an Act in 1801 to repair the bridge. It was rebuilt in 1805 from sandstone ashar.

Pulpit Bridge is a railway bridge in open countryside, once the gardens of the Watford Park estate. The London & North Western Railway built the bridge in 1877 by for the Northampton Loop train line. It was partly designed by Anthony Henley, the 3rd Baron Henley of Chardstock, whose property it crossed. It features the Henley arms and interesting decorative metalwork. While officially called Bridge 69, it is known as Pulpit Bridge because Lord Henley is meant to have held church services at the spot and it served as an open-air church.

Rothersthorpe Lift Bridge is a moveable bridge on the Northampton arm of the Grand Union Canal. It was built around 1815 and rebuilt in the same style in 1915. It was rebuilt once again in 2004. The bridge is 3.6 metres long and made up of planks and railings that can be raised and lowered on a metal chain.

The Rushton Hall Bridge is a cast-iron footbridge over the River Ise in the gardens of Rushton Hall. It was built in 1852 when the gardens were landscaped to include a new approach walk to the hall. It features decorative wrought-iron railings.

Solomon's Bridge, or Mainline Bridge 65, was built around 1800 on the Grand Union Canal. Its Gothic design was inspired by Cosgrove Priory, meant to soothe ill feelings caused by the canal cutting through the town.

Sulby Bridge is a late 18th-century bridge in Upper Shuckburgh. It stands on the former grounds of Sulby Hall (now demolished), a country house designed by the famous architect Sir John Soane. Soane also designed a bridge, but the house's owner did not like it. As a result, this bridge was brought from Pytchley Hall near Kettering when Pytchley was demolished in 1829.

The Terracotta Bridge is an ornamental bridge over a junction of ponds in the grounds of the Castle Ashby estate. Lancelot 'Capability' Brown built the bridge around 1765 when he designed the gardens. However, it was remodelled and refaced in pink terracotta around 1868 when the gardens were re-landscaped.

Thrapston Bridge is a 13th-century bridge over the River Nene that has been restored several times. In 1795, a ‘great sea flood’ destroyed five of the arches and there were further repairs in 1825. With the construction of the railways in the 1840s, the bridge was reduced to its present day ‘nine arches’. The four arches on the left side are original.

​Trafford Bridge is an 18th-century bridge that carries the Welsh Road over the River Cherwell. It replaced an earlier bridge that was at the centre of the Battle of Edgcote during the Wars of the Roses. Backup for the Yorkist Army included Welsh archers, perhaps giving the name to the road. However, they did not arrive in time and the battle was a key victory for the Lancastrian Army. The area around the bridge is now a Registered Battlefield.

The bridge and the road were also important in the 18th century, when the Culworth Gang, a group of highwaymen, used them as an escape route.

The present bridge is a simple style, made of ironstone ashlar. Interestingly, there is historic graffiti on the bridge, including images of shoes. Shoe graffiti is common in churches and is usually ritual. On bridges, it is used for protection on the crossing or a longer journey.

​Watcher’s Bridge is a humpback bridge over the Leicester section of the Grand Union Canal. It is officially called Accommodation Bridge 11 and is the last bridge before the Crick Tunnel. It is known as Watcher’s Bridge because a ghostly woman called Kit Crewbucket is meant to appear there, watching for something unknown. The distance between the bridge and the tunnel is also known as Kit's Stretch where the ghost has supposedly been seen.

Also known as the Harringworth Viaduct, the Welland Viaduct is one of the longest railway viaducts in Britain. It was built by the Midland Railway in the late 19th century. Due to the scale of the project, workers came from all over the country and lived in a ‘village’ of wooden huts. The vicar of Nassington, Reverend DW Barrett, ran a mission in the viaduct village to care for the workers. He provided basic education and conducted baptisms, weddings and funerals (three men fell to their deaths during construction). The Welland Viaduct is still used today by freight trains and some passenger trains.

​The Yarwell Mill Bridge is a 19th-century bridge attached to the sluice twenty metres south of Yarwell Mill.