Fond Brig

Bridge, Gothick folly, circa 1770 for Sir George Strickland of Boynton Hall.

MATERIALS: Mainly brick but with limestone blocks and architectural fragments.

PLAN: Carries the east-west Woldgate public road across a north-south former carriage drive.

NORTH ELEVATION: The arch beneath the road is elliptical, formed from a single arch ring mainly consisting of brick stretchers, but including paired headers: the bricks not being gauged. The spandrels are plain and are continuous upwards into the parapet which extends over 2m above the deck of the bridge. This parapet is pierced by a broad window formed by a two centred arch with a stone sill. The parapet is capped by an irregular assortment of stone blocks including one piece of medieval window tracery which is placed centrally, but set at right angles to the wall face. The bridge is flanked by abutment walls in the form of angled wings which irregularly step up to the top of the parapet: these wing walls also being capped with stone blocks. The lower sections of the wing walls each contain a niche in the brickwork, that on the east side having a pointed arch incorporating a section of medieval hood moulding, that on the west side being a larger round-arched alcove

SOUTH ELEVATION: The bridge's arch is flanked by a pair of small niches with flat arches set in the spandrel wall. In a similar fashion to the north elevation, the abutment walls project in the form of angled wings, each containing a further niche: that to the west being a circular oculus, that to the east being a larger, round arched alcove. The parapet to the south elevation is much lower, of a more normal height relative to the deck of the bridge. It is also capped with irregular stone blocks.