Packhorse Bridge, North of Coombe Gill Mill

Summary

Packhorse bridge, C18 or earlier.

Reasons for Designation

Coombe Gill packhorse bridge, of at least early-C18 date, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a simple, arched hump-backed bridge constructed in the local vernacular style and materials, which illustrates key features such as a narrow form and low parapets;
* it pre-dates 1850 and therefore falls within the period when most bridges are considered to be of special interest;
* it is an intact structure that unusually has seen little or no later modification.

Historic interest:

* situated on a historic pack-horse route, it illustrates the development of early infrastructure in a pre-motorised age.

Group value:

* it benefits from a spatial, functional and historic group value with Coombe Gill Mill which it served.

History

This packhorse bridge was constructed to provide access across the Coombe Gill and was used by tenants bringing their corn to Coombe Gill Mill to be ground into flour. Simple, but strong pack horse bridges were built to allow safe passage for pack horses across rivers and streams, and were built to allow one horse at a time so were narrow with low parapets to allow clearance of the loads carried in panniers slung on each side of the horse. Although the bridge has provided access to the mill for centuries, its exact date of construction is uncertain, but like the mill itself it is considered to be at least early C18 in date. It is depicted on the Tithe Map of 1842, and again on an estate map of 1843. Its basic footprint is unchanged in its depiction on the 1:2,500 first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1864, and it remains unchanged on subsequent OS editions down to the present day.

Details

Packhorse bridge, C18 or earlier.

DESCRIPTION: a single-span, arched hump-backed bridge of local slate rubble stone, carrying a former pack horse route across the Coombe Gill to the nearby Coombe Gill Mill. The single arch has crude but carefully laid voussoirs, and the bridge has low, boulder stone parapets about three courses high, with large, irregular, flat coping stones. Part of the cobble surface of the bridge is clearly visible.

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