Altarnun Old Bridge

Altarnun, Launceston, Cornwall, PL15 7SJ

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Overview

Bridge, possibly late medieval, but perhaps later. Widened in the early C20; original width re-instated and bridge restored in 1970s. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1138194
Date first listed:: 23-Nov-1988
List Entry Name:: Altarnun Old Bridge
Statutory Address:: Altarnun, Launceston, Cornwall, PL15 7SJ

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Date:: 2001-06-30
Reference:: IOE01/06233/11
Rights:: © Mr Dick Doyle. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1138194
Date first listed:: 23-Nov-1988
Date of most recent amendment:: 18-Oct-2017
List Entry Name:: Altarnun Old Bridge
Statutory Address 1:: Altarnun, Launceston, Cornwall, PL15 7SJ

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:: Altarnun, Launceston, Cornwall, PL15 7SJ

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

District:: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Altarnun
National Grid Reference:: SX2231181292

Summary

Bridge, possibly late medieval, but perhaps later. Widened in the early C20; original width re-instated and bridge restored in 1970s.

Reasons for Designation

Altarnun Old Bridge is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* It is a good survival of a probable late-medieval bridge which, despite later alteration and subsequent restoration, retains the majority of its early fabric; * It is a neatly-made structure with well-constructed, semi-circular arches to the spans.

Historic interest:

* It forms part of a historic route and has connected local parishioners with the Church of St Nonna for many centuries.

History

Altarnun Old Bridge spans the Penpont Water, a tributary of the River Inney, and provides access between the area of the village called Penpont to the south-east of the river and the parish Church of St Nonna (Grade I) to the north-west. Although it is a minor route, the road that the bridge spans is of considerable antiquity, as attested by several medieval wayside crosses along its course. The precise date of the bridge is uncertain. The historian, Charles Henderson (see SOURCES) attributes a C15 date, though it may possibly be post medieval, with medieval origins.

In 1928 Henderson described the carriageway of the bridge as having been recently widened slightly on the downstream (east) side to accommodate motor vehicles. As part of this work, iron girders were inserted along this side of the bridge to support the parapet which was realigned. In the 1970s a new road bridge was constructed at a former fording point adjacent to the existing bridge, and Altarnun Old Bridge was restored to its original width and the downstream parapet was rebuilt.

Details

Bridge, possibly late medieval, but perhaps later. Widened in the early C20; original width re-instated and bridge restored in 1970s.

MATERIALS: constructed of slatestone rubble with roughly-dressed stone arches and granite coping to the parapets.

DESCRIPTION: the bridge crosses the Penpont Water within the village of Altarnun. It is constructed of slatestone rubble and granite coping stones to the parapets. It comprises two semi-circular arches and a central pier, which has full-height, pointed cutwaters to both the down and upstream sides. These probably originally continued up to the parapets to form refuges, but have since been truncated and capped with concrete at the level of the parapet base to each side. The south-east abutment projects asymmetrically to each side beneath the parapet, extending along the sloping riverbank on either side. The walls facing the north-western abutment converge at an angle to each face of the bridge and are largely rebuilt on the downstream side, but the rest of this abutment is largely contained within the much steeper riverbank on that side and masked beneath a road. The parapets are also built of slatestone rubble with iron-tied granite coping to the downstream side. They curve outwards at the ends; the downstream parapet at the north-west end extends along the riverbank though much of this section represents a lower and broader rebuild with a capping of slate slabs.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 68275
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Henderson, C, Coates, H, Old Cornish Bridges and Streams, (1928), 57

Legal

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