Town Bridge over River Great Ouse

This is a town bridge spanning the River Great Ouse, built between 1811 and 1813 to designs by John Wing, and subsequently widened between 1938 and 1940. The bridge is rectangular and runs north-south. Its construction used ashlar sandstone for the main facing, with Portland stone for the arches. The bridge features five elliptical arches with rusticated voussoirs, and a balustraded parapet. The abutments and spandrels are sandstone, while the arches are faced with Portland stone. The piers sit on semi-circular foundation blocks, and at the impost of each arch, stone panels are set above each keystone and pier. Twin lampposts, marked with the foundry mark of Baker of Bedford, stand above each pier. Plaques commemorate the bridge's opening in 1813 (on the west side), the removal of tolls in 1835 (on the east side), and the imprisonment of John Bunyan in the gaol associated with the earlier bridge (on the north end of the east wall). The intrados of each arch shows signs of the bridge’s widening, which increased its width from 30 feet to 54 feet between 1938 and 1940.