Maidens Bridge

Maiden's Bridge is a road bridge dating to around 1800, built across Maiden's Brook. The architect is unknown. The bridge is constructed of London stock brick with stone dressings. It is a single span, flanked by circular flood arches, and features projections forming four narrow pedestrian refuges. A stone string course and stone copings define the parapets. Iron ties terminate the bridge on either side of the principal arch. An iron plaque on the east elevation of the west parapet bears the inscription “County of Middlesex. Take notice that this bridge (which is a county bridge) is insufficient to carry weights beyond the ordinary traffic of the District and that the owners and persons in charge of locomotive traction engines and heavily laden carriages are warned against using the bridge for the passage of any such engines or carriages. Richard Nicholson, Clerk of the Peace.” The stream bed beneath the principal arch is brick paved, with an iron retaining plate to the east. Bank retaining walls of brick adjoin the bridge immediately on either side.

The site of the bridge is believed to have been occupied since before the Norman Conquest, with earlier timber and brick bridges having proved too narrow. A local history, published in 1823, states that the bridge was built of brick, the full width of the road, approximately twenty years prior. The current plaque replaces an earlier one dating to around 1824, which threatened those damaging the bridge with deportation for life. Parapet rebuilding occurred in 1968 following a collision with a lorry, which resulted in the introduction of the current single-flow traffic system. Maiden’s Bridge is a simple yet attractively composed structure that continues to serve its original purpose.