The Old Dee Bridge in Chester, Cheshire, England, is the oldest bridge in the city. It crosses the River Dee carrying the road that leads from the bottom of Lower Bridge Street and the Bridgegate to

Handbridge Handbridge is a district of Chester, England on the south bank of the River Dee. A settlement has existed on the site since the Iron Age , but the site saw major expansion during the collapse of the Roman occupation of Britain, as the city grew ...

. A bridge on this site was first built in the Roman era, and the present bridge is largely the result of a major rebuilding in 1387. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

History

The original bridge was built for the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and probably had stone piers carrying a timber carriageway. This seems to have disappeared by the 10th century, as in the reign of Queen

Æthelflæd Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians ( 870 – 12 June 918) ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith. Æthe ...

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

(AD 911–918) there was only a ferry. A bridge had been built by 1086, when the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

records that the Provost of

Chester Castle Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls. The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee. In the castle complex are the remaining part ...

could summon a man from every hide of land in Cheshire to rebuild Chester's walls and bridge. The bridge was reached by a causeway, which according to a manuscript in the

Harleian Collection The Harleian Library, Harley Collection, Harleian Collection and other variants ( la, Bibliotheca Harleiana) is one of the main "closed" collections (namely, historic collections to which new material is no longer added) of the British Library in ...

was built for

Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

(died 1101) along with

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

s on the Dee at that point. The bridge was repaired in the next two centuries but in 1279–80 the timber superstructure was swept away. Further repairs were made by Sir Thomas de Ferrers, Justice of Chester in about 1347–49 and by Stephen de Merton in the 1350s. In 1357

Edward, the Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...

ordered the mayor and citizens of Chester to make:

''...with all speed their part of the bridge of Dee... in the same manner and style as the remainder of the bridge which has been newly made.''

It is likely that this rebuilding resulted in the bridge that exists today. In 1367 the citizens of Chester were granted murage (the toll for repair of the town walls) but all profits went ''"to the fabric and for the repair of the bridge"''. In December 1388 a grant of pontage was made to the "mayor, bailiffs and good men of Chester" for a period of three years. Old Dee Bridge from DownStream 4

The bridge is built in local red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

. It has seven arches, all of which are of different dimensions. The two northernmost arches formerly spanned the

leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Othe ...

leading to the mills. The southernmost arch replaced the medieval drawbridge. A tower was built on the bridge between 1399 and 1407, as part of the city's defences. In 1407 a moiety (''i.e.'' half) of the murage was allowed to complete the tower

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...

on the bridge. The gatehouse was demolished in 1781. In 1825–26 the bridge was widened by Thomas Harrison to provide a footway on the upstream side. Around this time it was decided that it was becoming inadequate for the expected traffic and it was decided to build an additional bridge to link the city with North Wales. The result was the

Grosvenor Bridge Grosvenor Bridge, originally known as, and alternatively called Victoria Railway Bridge, is a railway bridge over the River Thames in London, between Vauxhall Bridge and Chelsea Bridge. Originally constructed in 1860, and widened in 1865 and 1 ...

, designed by Thomas Harrison and officially opened in 1832 although it was not finished for traffic to cross it until 1 January 1834.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Images at geograph
{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place = River Dee , bridge = Old Dee Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = Queens Park Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream =

Grosvenor Bridge (Chester) The Grosvenor Bridge is a single-span stone arch road bridge crossing the River Dee at Chester, England. Located on the A483 Grosvenor Road (), it was designed by Thomas Harrison and opened by Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld on 17 Oc ...

, downstream signs = Buildings and structures completed in 1387 Bridges in Cheshire Buildings and structures in Chester Grade I listed bridges Grade I listed buildings in Chester Bridges across the River Dee, Wales Scheduled monuments in Cheshire Thomas Harrison buildings Arch bridges in the United Kingdom Bridges completed in the 14th century Former toll bridges in England

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links