Dunham Bridge is a

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

across the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

in England. It spans the border between

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

and

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

to the west and east respectively. It forms part of the

A57 road The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, England, Lincoln via Warrington, Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford and Manchester, and then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass (between the high moorlands of ...

, in the section between the Great North Road and Lincoln. It takes its name from the nearby village of Dunham-on-Trent.

History

Until the bridge was built and opened in 1832, the crossing of the river was by Dunham Ferry. This was an important crossing of the Trent. It was used by King William III in 1695 when he was met at Dunham by the Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1814, the fare was reported at half a crown. The bridge was established in the 1830s, under the powers of the Dunham Bridge Act 1830, when a group of local businessmen organised the original four-span,

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

construction by the civil engineer, George Leather (1786–1870). The first person to cross the bridge was Eliza Woolas of Laneham, who used a sixteen-inch batten to span the remaining gap on a Sunday – presumably when no workmen were present. River Trent flooded Dunham Bridge 1979 C

River Trent flooded Dunham Bridge 1979 C

The

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

was rebuilt on its original piers in 1977–79 to

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

standards. A new

toll plaza A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and maintenan ...

was opened in 1994 by the

Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: The Rt Hon. or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...

Mr. Michael Dennis, doubling the number of lanes through the

booths E. H. Booth & Co., Limited, trading as Booths, is a chain of high-end supermarkets in Northern England. Most of its branches are in Lancashire, but there are also branches in Cheshire, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It has been ...

from two to four. During the rebuilding, a temporary bridge was built with single lane usage, controlled with temporary traffic signals.

Tolls

In June 2023, it was confirmed that tolls would be increasing for the first time since 2013. Tariffs are regulated by the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

. Passage is free at all times for pedestrians, cyclists, motor-cyclists and three-wheeled

invalid carriage Invalid carriages were usually single seater road vehicles, buggies, or self-propelled vehicles for disabled people. They pre-dated modern electric mobility scooters and, from the 1920s, were generally powered by small gasoline/petrol engines, alt ...

s. On Christmas Day and

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

, passage is free for all traffic. Dunham Bridge has been closed several times due to flooding, mainly on the Lincolnshire side: in 1897, 1977, 2001, 2012, and in January 2024.

References

External links

Dunham Bridge Toll Company
{{Lincolnshire Bridges in Nottinghamshire Bridges in Lincolnshire Bridges completed in 1832 Bridges completed in 1979 Toll bridges in England Bridges across the River Trent

History

Tolls

Further reading

See also

References

External links