Grand Bridge

BLENHEIM SP41NW 2/14 Grand Bridge 27/08/57 GV I Bridge. c.1706-1712. By Sir John Vanburgh. Limestone ashlar. Semi-circular archway, with blocked voussoirs, flanked by 2-storey square projecting bays: each bay has segmental-arched opening with keystone linked to bracketed cornice and with bracketed sill, above niche. Outer bays have rusticated semi-circular arches and bands of frosted rustication beneath parapet. Canted abutments have rusticated quoin strips. The bridge was left unfinished when work on the palace stopped in 1712: Vanbrugh intended the central span to be surmounted by tall arcades within corner towers, thus making a version of Palladio's Rialto Bridge. The bridge, which spanned virtual marshland before Capability Brown made the lake, has over 30 rooms, some with chimneypieces and dish vaulting, and was first conceived as a habitable viaduct. The masons were Peisley and Townesend. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: p473; National Monuments Record; K. Downes, Hawkesmoor, 1959, p282; K. Downes, Vanbrugh, 1977, pp72-3; D. Green, Blenheim Palace, 1951, pp100-102, 117, 127;Blenheim Park is included in the HBMC Register of Parks and Gardens at Grade I)

Listing NGR: SP4389316414