Green Bridge (also known as Richmond Bridge) is a road bridge crossing the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley throu ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

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. Until the building of

Mercury Bridge Mercury Bridge (also known as Station Bridge), is a grade II listed structure that crosses the River Swale in North Yorkshire, connecting the town of Richmond to the south side of the river. The bridge was commissioned by the railway company wh ...

adjacent to the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in 1846, it was the only crossing over the River Swale from Richmond. Historically, the bridge carried the

Richmond to Lancaster Turnpike The Richmond to Lancaster Turnpike, was a road that was opened in the second half of the 18th century between Richmond, North Yorkshire, Richmond, in the North Riding of Yorkshire and Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster in Lancashire, Northern Engl ...

, and is now a

grade II* 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, H ...

structure.

History

The bridge, which is sometimes known as ''Richmond Bridge'', was historically known as the ''Green Bridge'' as it connected Richmond Green (Bargate) with the south side of the River Swale. The old bridge was known to have been in place at least as far back as 1535, and was narrower than the current bridge. It had four arches (compared to the current bridge's three), and also housed a small building in the middle of the bridge on the upstream side for a watchman to maintain an early alarm in case of any danger. This bridge is shown on

John Speed John Speed (1551 or 1552 – 28 July 1629) was an English cartographer, chronologer and historian of Cheshire origins.; superseding . The son of a citizen and Merchant Taylor in London,"Life of John Speed", ''The Hibernian Magazine, Or, Compe ...

's map of Richmond dated to 1610, and in 1751, it became a vital crossing in the newly created

. Tolls were levied on corn and any cattle being taken across the bridge, which in 1622 was rated at 44 shillings per year. Flooding in 1771 damaged the old bridge, and this prompted the authorities to have a new bridge built at a cost of £1,800. The Green Bridge was practically the only structure not washed away in the great floods of 1771, but it needed constant attention until the new bridge was built in 1789. The foundations of the old bridge are visible on the upstream side during periods of low water. Green Bridge at Richmond

The bridge of 1789 was designed by John Carr, and has what Pevsner describes as "..three beautiful segmented arches and rounded cutwaters." However, besides carrying the Richmond to Lancaster Turnpike, the river bridge was the dividing point between the old Borough of Richmond and the

North Riding The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

authorities, so they each advertised for a contractor separately, which led to the Richmond side having three layers of stone on the bridge's parapets, whilst the North Riding side had two layers only. This bridge has two piers in the water, and each of the three arches is of a different span length to the other two. The bridge is long, wide, with one walkway being , and the other . The Bridge is made from ashlar stone quarried at Gatherley Moor, and has three moulded arches, each with rounded bays over the piers. The quarry was re-opened in 2001, and stone won from the site has been used to repair the bridge. A study conducted on the site in 1976 during a period of extremely low water revealed evidence of the bases of three previous piers in the water immediately upstream of the present bridge. Richmond Bridge is the starting point for the annual Richmond Duck Race, which sees 2,000 sponsored plastic ducks tipped into the river, with the finishing line being Mercury Bridge (Station Bridge) downstream. The Green Bridge is a grade II* listed structure, and a scheduled monument. The bridge carries an unclassified road up a hill known as ''Slee Gill''.

References

Sources

* * * {{Road bridges in Yorkshire Bridges in North Yorkshire Grade II* listed buildings in North Yorkshire Richmond, North Yorkshire John Carr (architect) buildings Bridges completed in 1789 Bridges across the River Swale

History

See also

References

Sources