Grand Bridge
GRAND BRIDGE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1052917
- Date first listed:
- 27-Aug-1957
- List Entry Name:
- Grand Bridge
- Statutory Address:
- GRAND BRIDGE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-06-01
- Reference:
- IOE01/06988/02
- Rights:
- © Mr Chris Tresise. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1052917
- Date first listed:
- 27-Aug-1957
- List Entry Name:
- Grand Bridge
- Statutory Address 1:
- GRAND BRIDGE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- GRAND BRIDGE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Oxfordshire
- District:
- West Oxfordshire (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Blenheim
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 43893 16414
Details
BLENHEIM SP41NW 2/14 Grand Bridge 27/08/57 GV I Bridge. c.1706-1712. By Sir John Vanburgh. Limestone ashlar. Semi-circular archway, with blocked voussoirs, flanked by 2-storey square projecting bays: each bay has segmental-arched opening with keystone linked to bracketed cornice and with bracketed sill, above niche. Outer bays have rusticated semi-circular arches and bands of frosted rustication beneath parapet. Canted abutments have rusticated quoin strips. The bridge was left unfinished when work on the palace stopped in 1712: Vanbrugh intended the central span to be surmounted by tall arcades within corner towers, thus making a version of Palladio's Rialto Bridge. The bridge, which spanned virtual marshland before Capability Brown made the lake, has over 30 rooms, some with chimneypieces and dish vaulting, and was first conceived as a habitable viaduct. The masons were Peisley and Townesend. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: p473; National Monuments Record; K. Downes, Hawkesmoor, 1959, p282; K. Downes, Vanbrugh, 1977, pp72-3; D. Green, Blenheim Palace, 1951, pp100-102, 117, 127;Blenheim Park is included in the HBMC Register of Parks and Gardens at Grade I)
Listing NGR: SP4389316414
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 252996
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 473
Green, D, Blenheim Palace, (1951), 100-102
Green, D, Blenheim Palace, (1951), 117, 127
Downes, K, Vanbrugh, (1977), 72-3
Downes, K, Hawkesmoor, (1969), 282
Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 34 Oxfordshire
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 07-Jun-2026 at 03:29:16.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.