Treverbyn Bridge

60m east of Treverbyn Mill, St Cleer, Cornwall, PL14 6HG

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

Overview

Three-span bridge, dating from the early medieval period and substantially rebuilt in around 1412. Widened in the C18; closed to motor traffic in 1929. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1159878
Date first listed:: 21-Aug-1964
List Entry Name:: Treverbyn Bridge
Statutory Address:: 60m east of Treverbyn Mill, St Cleer, Cornwall, PL14 6HG

User submitted image — Uploaded by Samantha Barnes-Knight This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.

Date:: 2002-03-25
Reference:: IOE01/05230/12
Rights:: © Anne Newell. Source: Historic England Archive

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1159878
Date first listed:: 21-Aug-1964
Date of most recent amendment:: 16-Mar-2018
List Entry Name:: Treverbyn Bridge
Location Description:
Statutory Address 1:: 60m east of Treverbyn Mill, St Cleer, Cornwall, PL14 6HG

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:: 60m east of Treverbyn Mill, St Cleer, Cornwall, PL14 6HG

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

District:: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: St. Cleer
District:: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: St. Neot
National Grid Reference:: SX2063967444

Summary

Three-span bridge, dating from the early medieval period and substantially rebuilt in around 1412. Widened in the C18; closed to motor traffic in 1929.

Reasons for Designation

Treverbyn Bridge, dating from the pre-medieval period and substantially rebuilt in around 1412, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest: * an excellent survival of an early medieval bridge which retains the majority of its C15 fabric with little significant alteration; * the different phases of construction are visible in the well-constructed structure.

Historic interest:

* a good example of a multi-arch bridge spanning a small river which was influenced by the application of an Indulgence from the Church; * it forms part of a historic route between the historic towns of Bodmin and Liskeard.

History

Treverbyn Bridge is a multi-span bridge of three arches, crossing the River Fowey on the road between St Neot, to the west, and St Cleer, to the east. A small cluster of buildings including Treverbyn Mill marks a small farm complex on the west bank of the river. Although now a minor road, this was the main medieval route linking the important market towns of Liskeard and Bodmin.

The western part of the bridge contains pre-C15 fabric, which was referred to in around 1412 as ‘threatening total ruin’. Donations to the Church for the repair of bridges were common in early Christianity and in the medieval period, and ‘Indulgences’ issued by the Church guaranteed penance for sin for a certain number of days in exchange for labour or money to the repair of building of a bridge. In 1412 or 1413, Bishop Stafford, the Bishop of Exeter granted an Indulgence to fund the repair of Treverbyn Bridge, providing a pardon of forty days penance from sin for contributors. These repairs are evident in the fabric of the bridge’s eastern arches.

The carriageway was widened at each end of the bridge in the C18. The road lost its importance in the early C19 when a new turnpike was opened through the Glynn Valley to the south (the modern A38). A new bridge by the County Surveyor EH Collcutt was built adjacent to Treverbyn Bridge in 1929, leaving the medieval structure for pedestrian use only.

Details

Three-span bridge, dating from the early medieval period and substantially rebuilt in around 1412. Widened in the C18; closed to motor traffic in 1929.

MATERIALS: slatestone and granite rubble, with some granite boulders and slabs. Slate string course. Dressed granite parapet copings.

DESCRIPTION: Treverbyn Bridge spans the River Fowey east-west with three arches, about 22m long and 2.5m wide. It is constructed mainly of slatestone rubble with some granite boulders, with granite slabs at the western arch. At the eastern end are two four-centred arches with recessed arch rings, flanking a central pier with triangular cutwaters, continued into the parapet as refuges. A slate string course marks the parapet base on the downstream side. The earlier western arch has an inner rounded slatestone arch and is flat topped with a granite slab, with the parapet carried over at an angle on a second granite slab. The pier between the eastern and earlier western section of the bridge is wider with unequal cutwaters and no refuges on both up- and downstream sides. This is where the river also divides by the means of an island on the downstream side. The abutments and parapet are largely of local slatestone throughout, with granite in places from earlier re-used material. The parapets are about 50cm high, capped with iron-cramped dressed granite coping slabs. The parapet at the western end splays and curves to the downstream side, a result of widening in the C18.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 62260
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Beacham, P, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cornwall, (2014), 598
Henderson, C, Coates, H, Old Cornish Bridges and Streams, (1928)
Otter, RA , Civil Engineering Heritage: Southern England, (1997), 25
Websites
Engineering Timelines - Treverbyn (New) Bridge, 1929 by EH Collcutt., accessed 08/02/2018 from http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=851 Treverbyn (New)
Heritage Gateway - Treverbyn Bridge - Cornwall HER entry ref 17282, accessed 08/02/2018 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO9759&resourceID=1020
NHLE - Treverbyn Bridge - Scheduling entry, accessed 08/02/2018 from https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1020893

Legal

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