Smith's Bridge

River Yeo, Bradford Abbas, Dorset, DT9 6RE

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1119407
Date first listed:: 11-Jul-1951
List Entry Name:: Smith's Bridge
Statutory Address:: River Yeo, Bradford Abbas, Dorset, DT9 6RE

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Date:: 1999-08-12
Reference:: IOE01/00106/06
Rights:: © Mr Brian Haigh. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1119407
Date first listed:: 11-Jul-1951
Date of most recent amendment:: 30-Jun-2015
List Entry Name:: Smith's Bridge
Location Description:
Statutory Address 1:: River Yeo, Bradford Abbas, Dorset, DT9 6RE

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: River Yeo, Bradford Abbas, Dorset, DT9 6RE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Bradford Abbas
District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Clifton Maybank
National Grid Reference:: ST5896314032

Summary

A road bridge over the River Yeo, built in the later C16, with the north-west parapet being rebuilt in 1972 and again in 2009 after being demolished by vehicle strikes.

Reasons for Designation

Smith’s Bridge, a multi-span road bridge of the late C16, with the north-west parapet being rebuilt in 1972 and 2009, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: as an enduring construction of a simple design, with good-quality materials and detailing; * Date: as an important example of a Tudor road bridge; * Survival: Smith's Bridge survives in its original form, and retains its original masonry and features; * Historic interest: as a surviving testament to the evolution of road transport during the Tudor period.

History

Smith's Bridge stands to the south of Bradford Abbas and carries a narrow, sunken road across the River Yeo. Although the bridge is mentioned in the ‘Itinerary of John Leland in or About the Years 1535-1543’, the present structure was probably built in the later C16. In 1972 the whole of the north-west parapet was demolished by a vehicle strike and subsequently rebuilt using the original stones. The north-west parapet was again demolished by a vehicle strike in 2009 and rebuilt using a mixture of original and new stones.

Details

A road bridge, built in the later C16, with the north-west parapet being rebuilt in 1972 and again in 2009 after being demolished by vehicle strikes.

MATERIALS: of limestone ashlar.

DESCRIPTION: the bridge is aligned north-east to south-west and has two, four-centered arches with chamfered voussoirs which die into the abutments and central pier. The north-west (upstream) and south-east (downstream) sides both have a central, triangular-shaped cutwater. At road level there is an oversailing course surmounted by low parapet walls which is in turn surmounted by a wrought-iron railing. The coping stones are held together by wrought-iron clamps set in lead.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 105541
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: West Dorset, Volume 1, (1952), 148
McFetrich, D, Parsons, J, Discover Dorset Bridges, (1998), 23
Wallis, A J , Dorset Bridges A History and Guide, (1974), 73

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.