Bow Bridge
BOW BRIDGE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1104443
- Date first listed:
- 02-Jun-1977
- List Entry Name:
- Bow Bridge
- Statutory Address:
- BOW BRIDGE
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-04-03
- Reference:
- IOE01/16137/27
- Rights:
- © Dr Barbara Hilton. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1104443
- Date first listed:
- 02-Jun-1977
- List Entry Name:
- Bow Bridge
- Statutory Address 1:
- BOW 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:
- BOW BRIDGE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Devon
- District:
- Torridge (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Hartland
- National Grid Reference:
- SS2460724762
Details
HARTLAND ABBEY PARK
SS 22 SW
3/157 Bow Bridge
2.6.77
- II
Road bridge over Abbey River. Medieval with C18 or C19 widening and C20 parapets.
Slatestone rubble.
Two narrow straight-sided openings with 2-centred arches of rubble voussoirs. The
west face has a cutwater on the central pier and its abutments are canted. The east
face has the same arrangement but no canting to its abutments.
Development: the downstream (west) half of the bridge is earliest and suggests a
hump-backed form with the carriageway narrower than the approach road and a refuge
on each side. From underneath it can be seen that the bridge was later widened by
building against the upstream (east) side in like manner. The soffits of the
widened arch differ from the original in that put log holes still show how the
centering for the arches was carried. In recent times the roadway on each side has
been raised up to eliminate the hump, the parapets have been rebuilt with half-round
tops and the refuges eliminated.
This picturesque little bridge is probably a remnant of pre-Reformation Hartland
Abbey.
The earliest reference to Bow Bridge is in 1682 but probably it is also referred to
in 1605 - 6 when "the governors of the church goods" paid Francis Bremelcombe a ls
l1d in allowance of mony by hym defraid in repairing Abbey Bridge".
Source: Hartland and West Country Chronicle April 1911 - Bow Bridge R. Pearse
Chope.
Listing NGR: SS2460724762
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 91223
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Hartland and West Country Chronicle in April, (1911)
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 19-Jun-2026 at 21:38:56.
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.