Winterbrook Bridge, also known as Wallingford Bypass Bridge, was built in 1993 as part of a bypass around

Wallingford, Oxfordshire Wallingford () is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, north of Reading, south of Oxford and north west of Henley-on-Thames. Although belonging to the historic county of Berkshire, it ...

, to relieve congestion on the single-lane

Wallingford Bridge Wallingford Bridge is a medieval road bridge over the River Thames in England which connects Wallingford and Crowmarsh Gifford, Oxfordshire (Wallingford was historically in Berkshire until 1974 reorganization). It crosses the Thames on the rea ...

. It forms part of the A4130, connecting Winterbrook, at the north end of Cholsey, just south of Wallingford, on the west bank, to

Mongewell Mongewell is a village in the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Crowmarsh in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, about south of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Wallingford. Mongewell is on the east bank of the Thames, li ...

on the east bank. The bridge crosses the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

on the reach between Cleeve Lock and

Benson Lock Benson Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, close to Benson, Oxfordshire but on the opposite bank of the river. The first pound lock here was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1788 and it was replaced by the present ma ...

. The three-span bridge is built of steel plate girders with a reinforced concrete deck slab and glass fibre reinforced plastic cladding on the underside. During construction, remains of a late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

settlement on a former

eyot An ait (, like ''eight'') or eyot () is a small island. It is especially used to refer to river islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England. Aits are typically formed by the deposit of sediment in the water, which accumu ...

were discovered and investigated on the west bank of the Thames.Cromarty ''et al.'' (2005) The bridge was designed to avoid disturbing the archaeological site. Near the east bank, close to

, construction work allowed examination of the

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a p ...

Grim's Ditch Grim's Ditch, Grim's Dyke (also Grimsdyke or Grimes Dike in derivative names) or Grim's Bank is a name shared by a number of prehistoric bank and ditch linear earthworks across England. They are of different dates and may have had different funct ...

, a long earthwork followed by the Ridgeway Path, and revealed it from the late

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

/early

Roman 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Notes

References

*Cromarty, A.M., Barclay, A., Lambrick, G. and Robinson, M. (2005
''Archaeology of the Wallingford Bypass, 1986-92: Late Bronze Age Ritual and Habitation on a Thames Eyot at Whitecross Farm, Wallingford''
Oxford : Oxbow Books, *McKenzie, M. (1997) ''The Corrosivity of the Environment Inside Oxfordshire County Council Bridge Enclosures'', unpubl. Project Report PR/CE/67/97, TRL, Crowthorne, UK *Peshkam, V. and Banks, W.M. (1996)

, in: Saadatmanesh, H., Ehsani, E.R. and Ehsani, M.R. (Eds), ''First International Conference on Composites in Infrastructure'', University of Arizona, Tucson, p. 929–943 *Ryall, M.J. (2001) ''Bridge Management'', Butterworth-Heinemann, , p. 294

External links

Wallingford History Gateway
{{River item box Bridges in Oxfordshire Bridges across the River Thames Bridges completed in 1993 Wallingford, Oxfordshire 1993 establishments in England

See also

Notes

References

External links