{{Short description|Bridge in Nantwich, Cheshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Use British English|date=December 2017}} [[File:Nantwich Bridge Welsh Row.jpg|thumb|right|260px|The present Nantwich Bridge (viewed from the south) dates from 1803.]] '''Nantwich Bridge''' (also known as the '''Welsh Row Bridge''' and formerly the '''Welsh Bridge''') is a stone bridge carrying [[Welsh Row, Nantwich|Welsh Row]] over the [[River Weaver]] in the town of [[Nantwich]], [[Cheshire]], England. The existing bridge replaces a 17th-century stone bridge; it dates from 1803 and is listed at [[Listed building|grade II]].<ref name=IoE>{{NHLE |num= 1373917|desc= Nantwich Bridge (over River Weaver)|accessdate= 11 August 2012}}</ref> An earlier timber bridge known as the '''Wich Bridge''' is first mentioned at the end of the 14th century; it is described as having a chapel and shops on it.
Nantwich lay on the main London–[[Chester]] road, an important transport route, and the bridge was heavily used for trade and military purposes from the [[medieval]] era until the 19th century.
==Background== The earliest crossing of the [[River Weaver]] was via a [[Ford (crossing)|ford]] to the south of the existing bridge, near the probable site of the [[Normans|Norman]] [[Nantwich Castle|castle]].<ref>Stevenson, pp. 2, 4</ref><ref>McNeil Sale R. ''et al.'', pp. 12–14</ref> A [[Roman Britain|Roman]] trackway running at an angle to the course of [[Welsh Row, Nantwich|Welsh Row]] was found during excavations by the existing bridge in 2007. A [[medieval]] wooden causeway running beneath the modern street was also uncovered.<ref>{{citation |publisher=Nantwich Museum |work=Nantwich Museum: The Home of the Town's History |title=Photo Gallery ... on the Welsh Row finds |url=http://freespace.virgin.net/nantwich.museum/photo_gallery.htm |accessdate=19 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327220135/http://freespace.virgin.net/nantwich.museum/photo_gallery.htm |archivedate=27 March 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The town's location on the main London to [[Chester]] road meant that the crossing would have seen heavy use from the medieval era, including by soldiers en route to Wales and later Ireland. The opening of [[Thomas Telford|Telford]]'s road from London to [[Holyhead]] resulted in a decline in travel via this route from the 1830s.<ref name=Lake_p5>Lake, pp. 5, 30–31, 132</ref>
==Timber bridge== The first references to a bridge in the town occur in documents of 5 January 1398–9 and 1438–9. Known as the Wich Bridge (also Wiche or Wych), it was a timber structure on which stood [[St Ann's Chapel, Nantwich|St Ann's Chapel]] and four shops. Medieval chapels built on bridges also existed in other Cheshire towns, including [[Congleton]] and [[Stockport]].<ref name=Hall>Hall, pp. 86–87</ref> Few bridge chapels now survive in Britain, but a good example is the [[Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin, Wakefield|Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin]] in [[Wakefield]], which dates from around 1350.<ref>{{NHLE |num= 1258242|desc= Chapel of St Mary on east side of Wakefield Bridge|accessdate= 11 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{citation |publisher=Cathedral Communications Ltd |author=Green E |title=Bridge chapels |url=http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/bridgechapels/bridgechapels.htm |accessdate=19 August 2010}}</ref> A priest would have said prayers for the safety of travellers on payment of a fee.<ref name=Hall /> The fate of St Ann's Chapel is unknown, but it is not mentioned in records of [[chantry|chantry chapels]] of 1545, and had presumably closed before that date.<ref>Garton, 1972, p. 24</ref>
The bridge was originally maintained and repaired by the town.<ref name=Hall /><ref name=Hall_p196>Hall, pp. 196, 208</ref> Tolls were levied on goods passing through the town as [[pontage]] and [[pavage]] for the maintenance of the bridge and road; in 1282, for example, a ½ ''d'' toll was levied per cartload, with goods destined for military use being exempt.<ref name=Lake_p5 /> The bridge appears to have survived the fire of 1583, which started nearby and destroyed much of the town to the east of the river.<ref>Lake, pp. 67–70</ref> In 1622, William Webb writes:
{{blockquote|A strong timber bridge over the stream of the Weever is maintained by the town, which requires no little care and cost, by reason of the monstrous carriages of the wood in carts which is brought thither for the boiling of their salt.<ref>Hall, p. 125</ref>}}
In 1652, Wich Bridge was described as lying on "y<sup>e</sup> greatest & most frequented Road within this County", and it was designated a county bridge on 27 April 1652.<ref name=Hall /><ref name=Hall_p196 /> This meant that the county was responsible for its maintenance, but also that Nantwich had to pay towards the maintenance of the other county bridges, a charge from which the town had previously been exempt.<ref name=Hall_p196 />
==Stone bridge of 1664== By 1663, a few years after the [[Restoration (England)|Restoration of the monarchy]], the bridge was described by Roger Wilbraham as "in decay".<ref name=Hall_p196 /> Wilbraham was a prominent Nantwich resident who lived at [[Townsend House, Nantwich|Townsend House]] on Welsh Row; he later endowed the town's [[Widows' Almshouses, Nantwich|Widows' Almshouses]].<ref>Hall, pp. 428–30</ref> Anxious to avoid the town having to pay for its repair despite 12 years of contributing to other county bridges, Wilbraham and others successfully petitioned the [[justice of the peace|justices of the peace]] for the construction of "a substantiall Bridge of Stone" at the county's expense.<ref name=Hall_p196 />
Wilbraham commissioned local mason, Tim Adams, to build the bridge, starting in July 1663; it was complete by the beginning of July of the following year. The county contributed £90 towards its cost, together with 20 marks (£13 6''s'' 8''d'') to pave the bridge and the road on either side.<ref name=Hall_p196 /> Wilbraham writes that "My little boy, a Twin of 2 years old, was the first corpse that was carried over the new Bridge the begin<sup>g</sup> of July 1664."<ref name=Hall_p196 />
By 1742, the new bridge had again become dilapidated, and £9 19''s'' 6''d'' was spent on its repair.<ref>Garton, 1978, p. 57</ref>
==Stone bridge of 1803== The existing stone bridge was built in 1803 by local mason, William Lightfoot.<ref name=Hall /><ref name=Hall_p236>Hall, p. 236</ref><ref name=Pevsner>Pevsner & Hubbard, p. 289</ref> By the 1880s the official name on Ordnance Survey maps had changed to the Welsh Bridge.<ref name=Hall /><ref name=Hall_p236 /> The single arch has a [[cornice]] decorated with [[modillion]]s at the road level. The bridge is finished with a stone [[baluster|balustrade]] in which groups of balusters alternate with solid stone blocks.<ref name=IoE /> The bridge was repaired in the 21st century and some of the balusters were replaced.
It remained the main road bridge crossing the Weaver within the town until the 21st century, when the [[A534 road|A534]] was diverted away from Welsh Row and the triple-arched Sir Thomas Fairfax Bridge was constructed to the north of the Welsh Row bridge.<ref>{{citation |publisher=Cheshire County Council |work=Cheshire County Council website |title=Sir Thomas Fairfax Bridge Wins Two Awards! |url=http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/roads/SirThomasFairfax/ |accessdate=19 August 2010 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080119183112/http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/roads/SirThomasFairfax/ |archivedate = 19 January 2008}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Cheshire}} *[[Listed buildings in Nantwich]]
==References== {{reflist|30em}} '''Sources''' *{{cite book |last=Garton |first=E. |title=Nantwich, Saxon to Puritan: A History of the Hundred of Nantwich, c 1050 to c 1642 |publisher=Johnson & Son |location=Nantwich |date=1972 |isbn=0950273805}} *{{cite book |last=Garton |first=E. |title=Nantwich in the 18th Century: A Study of 18th Century Life and Affairs |publisher=Cheshire County Council |date=1978}} *{{cite book |last=Hall |first=J. |title=A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester |edition=2nd |publisher=E. J. Morten |date=1972 |isbn=0-901598-24-0}} *{{cite book |last=Lake |first=J. |title=The Great Fire of Nantwich |publisher=Shiva Publishing |date=1983 |isbn=0 906812 57 7}} *{{cite book |last=McNeil Sale |first=R. |title=Archaeology in Nantwich: Crown Car Park Excavations |publisher=Bemrose Press |date=1978}} *{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=N. |last2=Hubbard |first2=E. |series=The Buildings of England |title=Cheshire |publisher=Penguin Books |date=1971 |isbn=0 14 071042 6}} *{{cite book |last=Stevenson |first=P. J. |title=Nantwich: A Brief History and Guide |date=1994 |isbn=0953032124}}
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[[Category:Stone bridges in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Bridges in Cheshire]] [[Category:Bridges completed in the 17th century]] [[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1664]] [[Category:Transport infrastructure completed in the 1660s]] [[Category:Demolished bridges in England]] [[Category:Bridges completed in 1803]] [[Category:Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Nantwich]] [[Category:Grade II listed bridges]] [[Category:Former toll bridges in England]] [[Category:1664 establishments in England]]