Deanery Bridge

Summary

Pack horse bridge, C18 with a later-C20 deck and parapets.

Reasons for Designation

This pack horse bridge of C18 date, with a later-C20 deck and parapets, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a simple single-span bridge, constructed in local materials, which illustrates key features such as a rather flat segmental arch of very narrow form;
* it pre-dates 1850 and therefore falls within the period when most bridges are considered to be of special interest;
* while the bridge has been unsympathetically modified by the addition of a C20 concrete deck slab, its original form is retained beneath.

Historic interest:

* associated with an early route leading to a former corn mill, it illustrates the development of early infrastructure in a pre-motorised age.

Group value:

* it benefits from a spatial group value with several listed buildings in the vicinity including East Deanery and the Church of St Andrew.

History

The form of the bridge arch, which resembles a pack horse bridge, is thought to be C18 in date. It has been suggested that the abutments are medieval but there is no clear evidence to support this. It is likely that a medieval bridge stood on or close to the present site, associated with the medieval Dean’s House and Prebends College (Grade I) and a former water-powered corn mill near the south end of the bridge. The earliest map or documentary evidence for a bridge at the present location is the 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1856 (published 1857); the bridge is unnamed on all Ordnance Survey mapping. A concrete deck slab was added to the bridge in the later C20, which almost doubled its original width.

Details

Pack horse bridge, C18 with a later-C20 deck and parapets.

MATERIALS: abutments and spandrels are mostly coursed squared rubble, with areas of a less regular nature; the arch rings are of roughly shaped sandstone blocks. There is a concrete deck with steel and mesh railings.

PLAN: a single-span arched bridge, with wide abutments and short attached wing walls to the south end; a wide concrete slab deck oversails the original bridge.

DESCRIPTION: this bridge carries Mill Lane over the River Gaunless providing access to South Church village and the Church of St Andrew on the north bank. The bridge comprises a very narrow, rather flat, segmental stone arch, between stone abutments that are around twice as wide as the arch. A poured concrete slab about 3m wide oversails the arch rings on either side. Makeshift parapets are formed of stanchions, and a mixture of flat bars, tyre-traction mats and wire mesh. Diagonal tie bars help support a pipeline and electricity cable attached to the eastern elevation of the bridge. There are short, splayed attached wing walls to the south end formed of roughly coursed stone.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

385724

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Roberts, Martin, Pevsner, Nikolaus, Williamson, Elizabeth, The Buildings of England County Durham, (2021), 631

Websites
The Road, Rail and Parkland Bridges of Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, 4/2021: an assessment of the historical and archaeological evidence, M Jecock 2021, accessed 24-02-2022 from https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/4-2021/TheRoadRailandParklandBridgesofBishopAucklandCoDurham_anassessmentofthehistoricalandarchaeologicalevidence

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