London Road Bridge (MNL13346)

MATERIALS: original handmade red brick, laid in English bond, with some patching in red engineering brick, particularly around the arch rings. Bourne describes stone dressings including ‘cornice’ and ‘caps’ but only the coping appears now to be stone.

DESCRIPTION: three semi-elliptical spans: the central arch approximately 48ft [14.6m], the side arches approximately 44ft [13.4m]. The central arch is also marginally higher. Tall piers, tapered, each with a single transverse arch rebuilt as a blind arch. Impost bands appear to be rendered. Brick roll moulded string course to high mileage (east) elevation; that to low mileage (west) elevation now missing (small fragment survives at northern end). Raked and gently curved abutments/wing walls; that to the north-west curving to meet the line of the original turnpike road (Old Bath Road). Both parapets recently rebuilt in red engineering brick, although the low mileage side retains some original brickwork, including a chamfered plinth. Parapet coping to low mileage elevation is of modern reconstituted stone; that to high mileage elevation incorporates re-used original shallow-pitched coping stones.

The bridge is generally not visible in the wider landscape because it is in a cutting. However, it is visible from Warren Road Bridge (MLN13329).