Kildwick Bridge
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Kildwick Bridge is a road bridge over the
River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. Part of the river below Leeds is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malha ...
in
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
, England. It is one of the oldest documented bridges in England, with a reference dating back to 1305. It was the main route through Yorkshire to and from
Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...
, later becoming part of the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike. A newer road bridge and bypass opened just upstream from the current bridge in 1988, however Kildwick bridge is still open to vehicular traffic gaining access to
Kildwick Kildwick, or Kildwick-in-Craven, is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Skipton and Keighley and had a population of 191 in 2001, rising slightly to 194 at the 2011 census. Kildwick is a ...
village. The bridge is both a scheduled monument and a
grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
structure.


History

The River Aire at Kildwick was a crossing point in
Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...
; a road is thought to have forded the Aire in the Kildwick area. The building of the bridge, which started in 1305 and took several years, is listed as costing over £21 (), largely paid for by the monks of
Bolton Abbey Bolton Abbey Estate in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England, takes its name from a 12th-century Augustinian monastery of canons regular, now known as Bolton Priory. The priory, which was closed in the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasterie ...
for their carts to be able to cross the river. Evidence seems to suggest that the bridge was built on dry land, and then the river diverted to run underneath it, a common practice with bridge-building in those times. Although other bridges are thought to have existed over the River Aire at locations such as
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
and
Bingley Bingley is a market town and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is sited on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The town had a population of 18,040 at the United Kingdom ...
, Kildwick is the oldest documented bridge on the River Aire, and one of the oldest documented
Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
bridges in England. Historically, it was the only crossing of the river for miles around, and was known throughout the area as ''Aire-brigg'', or ''Ayrebridge'' (the Aire Bridge). The bridge is long and up until 1988, carried the A629 road when it was bypassed by a new trunk road and roundabout to the south, with a short spur along a newer bridge to the west; the old bridge remains open for local traffic to access the village of Kildwick itself. The bridge has four arches, all with ribbed undersides, and of differing spans; from north to south the first span is , the second is , the third and the last is . The stone used is mainly ashlar, but also some gritstone rubble, and the bridge shows signs of much repair in the stonework. Up until the late 18th century, the bridge was narrower, but during 1780, the bridge was widened on the downstream side. The widening was occasioned by the creation of the Keighley to Kendal Turnpike, and effectively created a second bridge added on to the first bridge. This added another onto the bridge making it wide. The two northernmost arches on the upstream side are pointed, with the remaining two wider and rounded, whilst those on the downstream side are all rounded. It was repaired in the 19th century, and then repaired and strengthened again in 1961. The Airedale Drainage Act 1861 ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. clx) lowered the riverbed in several places, ostensibly to provide good drainage and free up land for agricultural purposes. This resulted in the normal river height underneath the bridge being dropped by several feet. Between 1968 and 2023, the average flow under the bridge was , but during a flooded season in February 1995, the flow reached a rate of . Cracking in the parapet stones of the bridge on Boxing Day 2015, was put down to the pressure of the water passing under the bridge. Flooding had long been recognised as a problem in the low-lying land around Kildwick Bridge; the creation of the turnpike road in the 1780s awarded a contract to a local man to build a causeway on the south side leading up to the bridge, which had small tunnels underneath to allow floodwater to pass through. However, in his Book of Bridges written in 1752, John Carr noted that the bridge had a "causey" at the southern end which measured . The bridge was first listed with Historic England in 1954, and is now a grade I listed structure and a scheduled monument. Jervoise described Kildwick Bridge as being "..one of the most interesting bridges in Yorkshire, if not the finest."


See also

*
Grade I listed buildings in North Yorkshire (district) There are over 9,000 Grade I listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the unitary authority area of North Yorkshire. List of buildings ...
*
Listed buildings in Kildwick Kildwick is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It contains 27 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, two are l ...


Notes


References


External links


Kildwick bridge
on National Transport Trust {{Road bridges in Yorkshire Bridges in North Yorkshire Grade I listed bridges Kildwick