The Historic Bridges of Buckinghamshire

Marshall G. Hall

• Publisher: Windgather Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781911188933
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Bridges have always played an important role on the social and economic history of human development, and Buckinghamshire has a great wealth of them. Trade systems and road networks must solve the challenges of geography's waterways, and bridges, causeways, fords, and flood systems were necessarily a key aspect of the experience of historical travel. Bridges and river crossings anchored the Buckinghamshire road network in the landscape, and once established it proved remarkably durable. Settlements, villages, and eventually cities have traditionally sprung up at bridgeheads or where a river could be crossed at any time of the year. Some examples in Buckinghamshire are Newport Pagnell, Buckingham, and Cookham. The most ancient, vital, and interesting architectural structures linked to use of these crossings are bridges, and people hold a deep fascination for them. There are literally thousands of bridges in Buckinghamshire, varying vastly in size, style, and materials. Many are stone, a few are wooden, and there
are numerous brick and more modern steel and concrete constructions. Bridges in this book are more than 100 years old, mostly lie on public roads or rights-of way, are publicly accessible, and have a significant proportion of the original bridge intact. Through photographs, stories, and historical facts, this book looks at the wonderful historic bridges that make up the chronology of Buckinghamshire.

14

North Buckinghamshire Bridges

By far the majority of bridges that meet the criteria for inclusion in this work are in the

north of the county. In mid-Buckinghamshire, the Chiltern escarpment runs from the

northeast to the southwest of the county. North of this clearly visible geographic feature

the land is lower in elevation, gently rolling, and full of sizeable rivers. To the south of the

county, below the Chiltern Hills, smaller rivers rise and meander south to the Thames.

However, rapid urbanisation in the south of the county has seen the demise of many

important bridges.

RIVER TOVE

The River Tove is a tributary of the River Great Ouse. Rising in Northamptonshire about a

mile north of Greatworth, it flows for about 15 miles north and east of the town of

Towcester (meaning ‘camp on the Tove’) near Bury Mount, before meeting the Ouse

southeast of Cosgrove, north of Milton Keynes. It runs into Buckinghamshire just east of

Cosgrove. Its final 5 miles form part of the border between Northamptonshire and

Buckinghamshire, running alongside the Grand Union Canal (but the canal is in

Northamptonshire) and eventually flowing into the River Great Ouse north

of Milton Keynes. There is but one bridge over the Tove in Buckinghamshire.

Castlethorpe Station Road Bridge

Bridge Name:

Castlethorpe

Station

Road

Bridge

Location:

South

of

Castlethorpe

on

Station

Road

running

between

Castlethorpe

and

Y

ardley

Road

north

of

Milton

Keynes

.

National Grid Reference:

SP

79185 43960

Crosses:

Ri

v

er

T

o

v

e

Span:

10.5

metres

Bridge Type:

T

hree

Arch

Materials:

Brick

&

Stone

Traffic:

Pedestrian

&

Road

Opened:

E

arly

19

th

century

Managed by:

Milton

Keynes

Council

Historic England Designation:

U

nlisted

I

nformation

:

This little bridge o...