Lacock Bridge

Lacock Bridge is in fact two bridges and a long causeway between them, carrying the road east out of Lacock over the River Avon, a smaller channel and the water meadows towards Bowden Hill. Its fabric runs from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century, with a restoration dated 1809, and it is listed Grade II*, a grade above the village's other bridges.

History

The crossing is old, and the listing says the bridge keeps a significant share of its early fabric for all its later repairs. It was once known as Foot Bridge, because it lay at the foot of the hill rising to the west, on which the village stands.

For much of the seventeenth century, records show, the bridge was too decayed for wheeled traffic, and so a good deal of what you see is later repair. The main campaign came early in the nineteenth century: a date stone with the inscription G. Banks 1809 is set in the parapet of the second bridge, and that bridge's two northern arches, round and lined with brick, belong to the same work.

Since 1964 the Lacock bypass has taken through traffic away from the village, but this road still links Lacock with Bowden Hill.

What to see

Walk out along the road and look over the parapets. The main bridge over the Avon has four pointed arches, rebated (stepped in) round their edges, with cutwaters on the upstream side. On the downstream side a heavy central pier with a stepped top stands out, and the two right-hand arches sit a little forward of the left-hand pair, a sign of rebuilding.

Between the bridges, the causeway is lined with rubble walls, about 19m on the north side and 68m on the south, pierced with square holes to let floodwater pass through rather than pile up against them. The second bridge, over a tributary, has five arches: three pointed and rebated like the main bridge, with stepped piers downstream, and the two round, brick-lined arches of the 1809 repair at the north end. Find the G. Banks inscription on its parapet.

Visiting

The bridge is a public road and free to cross at any time. The road is narrow, with a narrow verge, and carries traffic to and from Bowden Hill, so walk in single file and keep dogs on a lead. The arches are best seen from beside the parapets; the holes in the causeway walls show how often the meadows flood here.

Getting there

The bridge is on the road east from Lacock, under a kilometre from the village centre. Park in the National Trust car park on Hither Way (SN15 2RQ), free to members, and walk east. The nearest stations are Melksham, about 3.5 miles from Lacock by road, and Chippenham, about 4.5 miles; the Faresaver X34 bus runs between Chippenham and Melksham through Lacock.

Nearby

Lacock's other bridges are smaller and later: the eighteenth-century packhorse bridge over the Bide Brook below the church and Rey Bridge over the Avon at Reybridge. Up the hill to the east, Bowden Park is James Wyatt's house of 1796. In the village are St Cyriac's Church, Lacock Abbey and two pubs, The Red Lion and The George Inn.