HER 453 DESCRIPTION:- Scheduled Monument Description:- The monument includes a bridge spanning the canalised West Channel of the River Severn on the western outskirts of Gloucester. The bridge, of the single span arch type, is built of stone and is approximately 100m long and 9m wide. The access to the bridge is under grass, but that part of the bridge which spans the canal is tarmaced with a pavement for pedestrian traffic on either side. The bridge, designed by Thomas Telford in 1825, was opened in 1830 to carry the main road across the canal, and give access to Gloucester from the west. Before the Severn Bridge was built at Aust in the 1960s, this was the lowest point at which the Severn could be crossed by bridge. The bridge is in the care of the Secretary of State. Wooden fence posts and telegraph poles are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included. {Source Work 2873.} 1826-8 Telford's Bridge was built a little to the N of Over Bridge which was then removed though traces of it can still be seen at low water. At the time the Causeway road was bent to the north. The railway bridge (being built in 1952) is upon the site of the old medieval bridge. The timbers of which were removed (at the time of the 1952 construction). Traces of the old bridge still to be seen at low water {Source Work 862.} DoE SAM file map indicates Telford's road bridge as the Scheduled Ancient Monument. This bridge remained in use until about 1971-2 and is now preserved in situ with road ends cut off at bridge limits and surrounding land grassed over.{pers comm M Taylor}; Opened 1830. Designed by Thomas Telford. Flat arch design. {Source Work 862.} Source Work 4627 states that Telford's design is based on Perronet's bridge over the Seine at Neuilly of 1768. Bridge opened 1831. Arch sank ten inches on the removal of the centring but carried traffic until bypassed before 1974. The medieval Over Bridge stood about 40m downstream from Telford's bridge which was opened in 1829. The abutments can be seen when the river is exceptionally low. At the Western bridge-head there was a group of houses including the Talbot Inn, the forerunner of Dog Inn. The Drive to the Vineyard (HER 384), the Abbot's summer residence, turned off here. {Source Work 1864.} 1976: A watching brief identified stonework and wooden foundations at the eatsern end fo the bridge. {Source Work 13104} Referred to as SAM427 until 05/11/1997. Mentioned in Gloucestershire Notes and Queries Vol1 p447-9. Year not given though on Tewkesbury Record card (A Morris 10/12/1999). Immediately to the south of the present bridge which carries the A40 trunk road across the Severn about one mile west of Gloucester, a masonry arch of 150 feet span crosses the river. It was completed in 1828. The engineer was Thomas Telford and he based the design on Perronet's five span bridge across the Seine at Neuilly. The main soffit is built to an elliptical curve with a 35 feet rise, but the voussoirs on the face follow a segmental curve of only a 13 feet rise and spring 22 feet above the main springing. This produces a funnelled entry upstream and downstream aimed at easing the passage of flood water through the bridge, and at the same time gives an interesting complex shape to the arch. The abutments rise from timber platforms lying on gravel 27 to 33 feet below ground level. The wing walls are founded 8 to 10 feet deep, directly onto the ground. When the arch centring was struck, the crown of the arch sank two inches, and later movement of the wing walls produced a further sinking of 8 inches. Telford blamed this on his parsimony in omitting piling or platforms under the walls and considered the work as being one of his failures. Nevertheless, the bridge, which had a 17 feet roadway and two 4 feet footways, carried traffic on the A40 until it was replaced by the new bridge upstream in 1975. It now stands in isolation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument {Source Work 484}. 1998 - Watching Brief during the laying of optic cable at Over Bridge, Gloucester. The work revealed no finds or features of archaeological significance. {Source Work 15726.} 2006 Severn RCZA NMP "Over Bridge, designed in 1825, spans the canalised West Channel of the River Severn on the western outskirts of Gloucester. The bridge, of single span arch type, is built of stone and is approximately 100 metres long and 9 metres wide. It was designed by Thomas Telford in 1825 and opened in 1830 to carry the main road across the river, and give access to Gloucester from the west. The bridge is said to have been based upon Jean Rodolphe Perronet's bridge over the Seine at Neuilly (built in about 1768 and demolished in 1942). The body of the arch is an ellipse with a chord line of 150 feet and a 35 foot rise; but the stones of the external arch are set to segments of the same chord with a rise of only 13 feet producing a chamfered arch easing the passage of flood water. Until the Severn Bridge was built at Aust in the 1960s, this was the lowest point at which the Severn could be crossed by vehicle. It carried traffic until 1974 when it was bypassed by road improvements." {Source Work 4249.} |