Sandwich Toll Bridge is 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 ...

road swing bridge over the River Stour in

Sandwich, Kent Sandwich is a town and civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, south-east England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour and has a population of 4,985. Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval build ...

. It opened in 1755 on a site that had been a crossing for centuries, and has had several iterations; the current is a

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

that opened in 1892. Tolls were abolished in 1977. The bridge has been part of the A256 road, a major route across east Kent. This became a significant traffic bottleneck, until a bypass opened in 1981.

History

Early history

A plaque on the bridge indicates there has been a tolled crossing, originally a ferry, in this rough location since 1127. The crossing forms part of a former turnpike road from Sandwich to the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in a ...

that has existed since the late 14th century. A customs house was built at the southern edge of the crossing during

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

's reign. The ferry route was frequently dangerous and difficult, and the Mayor of Sandwich petitioned Parliament to have a permanent bridge installed. The original bridge was authorised by the Sandwich Bridge Act 1755 and opened that year. The total cost was £1,000, of which £600 was publicly funded with the remainder coming from the Corporation of Sandwich. It was rebuilt in 1773 from Portland stone with a timber raised platform. A table of tolls is displayed on the side of the adjacent Barbican Gate to the south. A new wooden bridge was constructed in 1856, followed by a three-arch iron

in 1892, to allow river traffic to pass through. The reconstruction supported stone arches at the north and south ends. The bridge supports the town's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

on its side.

Modern history

The bridge formed part of the original route of the A256, a major road along the East Kent coast from

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

to Thanet. In 1962, the toll was 1 shilling (5p) for cars and 1/3 (6¼p) - 1/6 (7½p) for goods vehicles. By 1965, it had become a significant bottleneck on the A256 as it could only carry a single lane of motor traffic and was the only crossing of the Stour in the local area. A petition for a bypass was signed by 3,000 residents. In 1973, a fund was set up to use excess monies from tolls to pay for local infrastructure. The bridge was

in 1976. Tolls were abolished the following year, with the final one being collected by the Mayor Councillor on 30 September. A bypass of Sandwich opened in 1981, taking traffic away from the bridge, yet it continued to attract congestion as it was used as a

rat run Rat running (also known as rodent running or cut-through driving) is the practice by motorists of using residential side streets or any unintended short cut such as a parking lot, delivery service lane or cemetery road instead of the intended ...

. In 2018, the bridge began to suffer reliability problems. While

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...

were investigating repairs, on 9 June 2019, the bridge was stuck open after shipping vessel passed through. Following emergency work, it reopened on 24 June. The bridge was expected to close again in February 2020 to all traffic, including pedestrians, but this was postponed. The repairs eventually began in September 2020, closing the bridge for 11 weeks, costing the council half a million pounds. Further maintenance, installing a bespoke gearbox on the bridge, continued the following year.

References

External links

Toll Bridge (Sandwich)
- SABRE {{coord, 51.27595, 1.34209, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Bridges in Kent Grade II listed bridges Sandwich, Kent