New Bridges
NEW BRIDGES, LONDON ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1163147
- Date first listed:
- 04-Nov-1982
- List Entry Name:
- New Bridges
- Statutory Address:
- NEW BRIDGES, LONDON ROAD
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2003-05-27
- Reference:
- IOE01/06547/09
- Rights:
- © Mr JM Webber. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1163147
- Date first listed:
- 04-Nov-1982
- List Entry Name:
- New Bridges
- Statutory Address 1:
- NEW BRIDGES, LONDON ROAD
- Statutory Address 2:
- NEW BRIDGES, LONDON ROAD
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:
- NEW BRIDGES, LONDON ROAD
- Statutory Address:
- NEW BRIDGES, LONDON ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Cambridgeshire
- District:
- Huntingdonshire (District Authority)
- Parish:
- St. Ives
- National Grid Reference:
- TL 31169 70977
Details
HEMINGFORD GREY
992/7/17 LONDON ROAD 04-NOV-82 (East side) New Bridges LONDON ROAD New Bridges
GV II* Also in Fenstanton Civil Parish. Bridge dated 1822 on plaque. Designed probably T G Elger of Bedford for the Bury-Stratton Turnpike Trust. William Biggs surveyor and John Turner probably master builder. Carved plaque now much eroded inscribed 'John Turner 1822'. Yellow gault brick, mostly stone coping to parapet with C19 brick replacement and other repairs. Fifty-five segmental arches divided by brick buttresses of two stages, lower stage with cut-water. Band at road level.
HISTORY: Recent research has shown that the bridges were built by the Bury-Stratton Turnpike Trust although the causeway was owned by the Duke of Manchester. After the necessary loan was paid off the bridges too would become the property of the Duke. One of the trustees, John Margetts, offered a loan of £5,000 at 5% to cover all the costs, and he also provided all the bricks from his local brickworks. The architect was most probably Thomas Gwyn Elger of Bedford and William Biggs was the surveyor. The master builder appears to have been John Turner. Work began on April 8th 1822 and the 55 arches were completed in a remarkable 23 weeks. Around 1, 250 000 bricks were used. The causeway is some 700 feet long, and although there was some strengthening of a few arches when the railway was constructed across it in 1847, employing a level crossing, the causeway has only been repaired rather than widened, and much of the stone coping survives.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: This 55 arched, single structure is a unique causeway in the UK in that it is the longest road causeway with the greatest number of continuous brick arches. It predates the brick viaducts of the railway era and is a very significant example of 'Turnpike archaeology', and was considered to be important by the engineer Thomas Telford who visited in 1826. A comparison with other causeways shows that the New Bridges is much more extensive in a single stretch and much less altered than other comparable examples.
SOURCE: Flanagan, B, The New Bridges, Hemingford Abbots, 2005.
Listing NGR: TL3116770975
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 53992
- Legacy System:
- LBS
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 05-Jun-2026 at 14:30:22.
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