The Coat of Arms Bridge is a railway bridge in the

Stivichall Stivichall or Styvechale ( ) is a suburb of the city of Coventry, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It is a mainly residential area in the south of the city. Geography Stivichall is a mainly residential area of south Coventry astri ...

area of

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

in the West Midlands of England. It carries the Coventry–Leamington line between Coventry and

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

and is located just south of

Coventry railway station Coventry railway station is the main railway station serving the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England. The station is on the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line (WCML); it is also located at the centre of a junction where the lin ...

History and description

Coventry was served by the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

(L&BR) from the 1830s and a branch line south to Leamington was authorised in 1843. The engineer for the line, including the Coat of Arms Bridge, was Robert Dockray, who was one of Stephenson's assistants on the L&BR. The bridge spans a road, on the edge of what is now War Memorial Park, originally known as Cocks Lane but later renamed Coat of Arms Bridge Road. The bridge has three spans, one semi-elliptical central arch flanked by two smaller supporting arches. The central arch has a span of and the flanking arches have a span of each. The side arches were widened in 1916. The structure is built masonry and faced in

red sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains, cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed o ...

. The bridge takes its name from a shield carved into the parapet wall above the central span, which bears the coat of arms of the Gregory family of Stivichall Manor and the family motto "vigilance". The railway crossed the Gregorys' land and the embellishment on the bridge was possibly compensation. A similar bridge, an

accommodation bridge In the United Kingdom, an accommodation bridge or occupation bridge is one that preserves a pre-existing private road, path or right-of-way (transportation), right of access when a major transport route is built across it. Without the bridge, ac ...

connecting two fields, exists further down the railway line near

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District of Warwickshire, England, southwest of Coventry and north of both Warwick and Leamington Spa. Situated at the centre of t ...

. This bridge, also of stone constructions, bears two coats of arms—that of Chandos Leigh, 1st Baron Leigh (the landowner) on one side and the combined coat of arms of his wife and mother-in-law on the other. The bridge is a Grade II

listed building 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 ...

, a status which affords it legal protection, first designated in February 1955. A painting of the bridge by Herbert John Rylance, painted circa 1900, hangs in the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry city centre.

References

{{Reflist Railway bridges in the West Midlands (county) Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) Bridges completed in 1844 1844 establishments in England Bridges in Coventry Grade II listed bridges in England