Newsham Bridge

TA 11 SW BROCKLESBY BROCKLESBY PARK, THE UPPER PARK 1/37 Newsham Bridge 1-11-66 I

Bridge, circa 1772 probably by Capability Brown. Ashlar. Bridge of 7 unequal arches, the central one being the largest. The arches are ribbed on the undersides and are semicircular; despite this Romanesque detail, the rest of the style is a revival of C14 work. To either side of the central arch are single statues with gabled canopies having trefoil arches rising from short wall shafts. They are full length figures of Religious, one male and one female, doubtless in homage to the adjacent Premonstratensian monastic site. The principal arches of the bridge rise from substantial rounded cutwaters with chamfered tops. The abutments are marked by pairs of stepped buttresses at either end between which are 4 centred arches the tops of the octagonal end piers rise to coped terminals via panels bearing recessed cusped motifs in a debased Gothic style. The upper parts of the bridge are decorated with a variety of motifs including recessed quatrefoils on the central section of parapet with an enriched concave moulded string course beneath, zones of cusped panels containing shields to either side of the central panel and triangular motifs in the spandrels of the arches flanking the central one. The parapet itself is delicately ramped upwards to the centre and the ends of the bridge are swept.

Listing NGR: TA1318913451