Vineyard Bridge, Winchcombe

Vineyard Bridge carries Vineyard Street over the River Isbourne at the bottom of Winchcombe. It is a single stone arch built in 1891, the last work in the town of the architect J. Drayton Wyatt, and it is the way from the main street to the gates of Sudeley Castle. It is listed Grade II.

History

The bridge was built in 1891 to give Vineyard Street, the road from Winchcombe to one of Sudeley's principal gatehouses, a proper crossing of the Isbourne. Its listing names two men. John Drayton Wyatt was the architect who had already rebuilt the top of the chancel of St Peter's Church in 1872 and had worked with George Gilbert Scott on the almshouses of Dent's Terrace on Abbey Terrace in 1865; he died in 1891, so the bridge was his last building in the town. The mason was John Oakey, who worked for Emma Dent of Sudeley Castle, for whom and her husband John Coucher Dent those almshouses had been built.

The street is older than the bridge. The walk leaflets for the town say that Vineyard Street was once also known as Duck Street, and that a stump of the town's ducking stool was found when the ground was dug for the new bridge.

What to look for

Vineyard Bridge is a single segmental span of about 6.5m. Look for:

• the mix of stone: ashlar and rock-faced limestone on the face, though the listing says the main arch itself is built of brick;
• the dropped keystone at the crown of the arch;
• the deep moulded parapet and the piers at each end with pyramid caps;
• the walls, which run for about 25m in all, splaying out on both banks.

The verge at either end of the bridge is the safest place to stop and look at the parapet and piers.

Visiting

Vineyard Bridge is a public road bridge, free and open at all times. Vineyard Street is a surfaced road sloping down from the town, so the bridge can be reached with a pushchair or wheelchair, though the road is narrow and carries cars. Stand on the verge rather than in the road to look at it.

Getting there

Vineyard Bridge is at the bottom of Vineyard Street, which turns off Abbey Terrace beside St Peter's. Back Lane car park (GL54 5PZ) is a short walk away, and the 606 bus from Cheltenham stops in the town roughly hourly from Monday to Saturday, as does Stagecoach's W from Cheltenham; neither lists a Sunday service.

On foot, the Cotswold Way crosses the bridge, and so does its section from Winchcombe to Cleeve Hill. The Winchcombe and Belas Knap walk and the loop by Belas Knap and Cleeve Common both leave the town over it.

Nearby

Dent's Terrace and St Peter's Church are a few minutes' walk away on Abbey Terrace, and Sudeley Castle is beyond the bridge; the castle's own holiday homes, Sudeley Castle Cottages, are on the estate. Upstream, the Isbourne comes down from Cleeve Common past St James' Chapel and the tithe barn at Postlip. In the town, the White Hart and the Lion Inn serve food.