Summary
Two-span bridge, dating from the early C15 and incorporating earlier material. Closed to motor traffic by 1968.
Reasons for Designation
Panters Bridge, dating from C15 and incorporating earlier material, 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;
* it is a well-constructed structure with well-constructed arches to the spans.
Historic interest:
* a good example of a multi-arch bridge spanning a small river;
* it forms part of a historic route between the historic towns of Bodmin and Liskeard.
History
Panters Bridge is a multi-span bridge of two arches, crossing the River Bedalder, a tributary of the River Fowey, on the road between Mount, to the west, and St Neot, to the east. The river runs north to south, marking the boundary between the parishes of St Neot and Warleggan, with a small tributary joining the river from the west, on the upstream side of the bridge. Although now a minor road, this was the main medieval route linking the important market towns of Liskeard and Bodmin.
Panters Bridge appears in the name of a nearby tin working site, the ‘Pontwysebrygge work’ documented in 1514, and this earlier form of the name was also preserved as ‘Pontwise Bridge’ in a document of 1613 reciting the Bounds of St Neot Parish. It has also been considered that the name may originate in the ‘Pontiesu’ place-name included in a charter of 1241, although that would relate to a predecessor of the present bridge.
The present bridge largely dates to the early C15, but its western abutment incorporates material from an earlier phase. The form and construction of the bridge is typical of that date, bearing close similarities to other C15 bridges elsewhere in south-west England. A similar example can be found at Treverbyn Bridge approximately three miles to the east on the same route and documented as being rebuilt in 1412-1413. The only alterations to the bridge have been for necessary maintenance.
The road between Liskeard and Bodmin 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 was built adjacent to Panters Bridge in 1968, leaving the medieval structure for pedestrian use only.
Details
Two-span bridge, dating from the early C15 and incorporating earlier material. Closed to motor traffic by 1968.
MATERIALS: Slatestone, with some granite boulders and slabs. Dressed granite parapet copings.
DESCRIPTION: Panters Bridge spans the River Bedalder north-east to south-west with two arches, 22m long on the north side and 44.5m long on the south, varying in width from approximately 3m in the centre to 8m at the south-west end. It is constructed mainly of slatestone rubble with some granite slabs and blocks, the variations in size of the material revealing areas of later rebuild and maintenance. The arches are slightly pointed with double arch rings of slate, the inner slightly recessed. The arches spring from a low level above the riverbed, with the abutment walls carrying the bridge across both riverbanks for several metres. The central pier separating the arches has pointed cutwaters, their faces continued into the parapet as triangular refuges. The sides of the bridge rise above the carriageway as parapets, continuing above the abutments and reducing in height: the north-western parapet terminates on the abutments while that on the south-east extends to flank the approach to the bridge. The parapets vary in height and have iron-cramped granite coping slabs, some with a slight chamfer along each upper edge. The southern face of the south-west abutment incorporates an earlier abutment, visible as a wall of coursed large granite blocks sloping south-west, visible for 5.5m adjacent to the bank.
