{{Short description|Grade I listed bridge in County Durham, United Kingdom}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Use British English|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox bridge |bridge_name = Framwellgate Bridge |image = Framwellgate Bridge, 2006 (01).jpg |image_size = |alt = |caption = Framwellgate Bridge in 2006, with Durham Castle and Durham Cathedral behind it |coordinates = {{coord|54.7761|-1.5781|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline}} |os_grid_reference = NZ272424 |carries = Pedestrians |crosses = River Wear |locale = City of Durham, County Durham, England |owner = |maint = |id = |website = |preceded = Prebends Bridge |followed = Milburngate Bridge |engineering = |design = Two segmental arches with seven reinforcing ribs. Central pier with cutwaters. Possible third arch (no longer visible). |material = Stone |length = 2 main spans total {{cvt|30|yd}} |width = {{cvt|27|ft}} |height = |mainspan = |spans = 2 known; probably 3 total |pierswater = 1 |load = |clearance = |below = |life = |begin = After 1400 |complete = 15th century |cost = |open = |inaugurated = |traffic = |heritage = Grade I listed |closed = |replaces = Stone bridge built ''circa'' 1120 |references = |extra = }}
'''Framwellgate Bridge''' is a medieval masonry arch bridge across the River Wear, in Durham, England. It is a Grade I listed building.<ref name=EH-bridge>{{NHLE |num= 1322872 |desc=Framwellgate Bridge |date=6 May 1952 |access-date=5 February 2018}}</ref>
==History== The bridge was built after 1400 to replace one built early in the 12th century for Ranulf Flambard, who was Bishop of Durham 1099–1128.<ref name=Jervoise43>{{harvnb|Jervoise|1931|p=43}}</ref> Flambard's bridge seems to have had five or six arches.<ref name=Jervoise44>{{harvnb|Jervoise|1931|p=44}}</ref> A record of a lawsuit in 1437 records that Flambard's bridge: {{blockquote|...was broken by a flood during the Festival of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1400.<ref name=Jervoise43/>}}
Until the replacement bridge was completed a ferry was substituted, the profit from which was shared between the Bishop of Durham and the Prior of Durham Cathedral Priory.<ref name=Jervoise43/>
[[File:Thomas Girtin 002.jpg|thumb|left|1799 watercolour by Thomas Girtin of Durham Cathedral and the River Wear, showing all three arches of Framwellgate Bridge]] The current bridge is of two shallow arches, each with several reinforcing ribs.<ref name=Jervoise44/> Their combined span is about {{convert|30|yard}}.<ref name=Jervoise44/> The early 16th-century antiquary John Leland recorded that there were three arches.<ref name=Jervoise44/> A watercolour of Durham Cathedral painted by Thomas Girtin in 1799 shows a third arch, with a rounded shape<ref name=Jervoise44/> characteristic of Norman architecture. Buildings at the central Durham end of the bridge may conceal the third arch, which may be a surviving part of Flambard's original 12th-century bridge.<ref name=Jervoise44/>
Some sources indicate that both ends of the bridge were fortified by towers and gates, though others infer only a single gatehouse was built on the peninsula side of the river.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} The gateway and tower at the eastern end of the bridge were deemed an obstruction to traffic and demolished in 1760.<ref name=Jervoise44/> A flood destroyed two houses at the end of the bridge in 1771.<ref name=Jervoise44/> Early in the 19th century the bridge was widened on its upstream side.<ref name=Jervoise44/> It is now {{convert|27|ft}} wide.<ref name=Jervoise44/> Of the reinforcing ribs under each arch, five belong to the 15th-century bridge and two to the 19th-century widening.<ref name=Jervoise44/>
In 1318, Robert Neville, the "Peacock of the North", murdered his cousin, the Bishop's Steward, Sir Richard Fitzmarmaduke, at Framwellgate Bridge.{{citation needed|date=July 2009}}
Until the building of Milburngate Bridge in 1969, Framwellgate Bridge was the main traffic route from the west through the centre of Durham. Today, the bridge is pedestrianised.
{{River item box |River = River Wear |upstream = Prebends Bridge |downstream = Milburngate Bridge |type = bridge |thisis = |upsub = |downsub = A690 road |location = }}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book |last=Jervoise |first=Edwyn |year=1931 |title=The Ancient Bridges of the North of England |volume=II |location=Westminster |publisher=The Architectural Press for the SPAB |pages=40, 43–44 }} {{refend}}
Category:Bridges completed in the 15th century Category:Bridges across the River Wear Category:Bridges in County Durham Category:Buildings and structures in Durham, England Category:Grade I listed bridges in England Category:Grade I listed buildings in County Durham