Bellotts Road Bridge

BELLOTTS ROAD Bellotts Road Bridge

II 26/01/10

Single arch road bridge over railway built in 1839. It forms part of the Great Western Railway, chief engineer I.K.Brunel. MATERIALS: constructed of squared coursed white limestone with freestone dressings, over a brick arch. The four-centred Tudor arch is framed by moulded freestone voussoirs and flanked by buttresses with set-offs. The parapet has triangular coping. There is some brick patching to the arch.

HISTORY: The bridge was constructed in 1839 as part of the Bristol to Bath section of I.K. Brunel's Great Western Railway; the resident engineer for the Bristol/Bath Division was G.A. Frere. The line was opened on the broad gauge between Bristol and Bath on August 31st 1840. Bellots Road Bridge is the western of three GWR road bridges built in Twerton, (from west to east: Bellotts Road, Brook Road and Brougham Hayes) all to the east of Twerton Viaduct (qv). The bridges were built to accommodate field tracks, as shown on the 1839 Tithe Map, in what was still in 1840 a rural village; the suburban development of the area was to come in the later C19.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Bellotts Road Bridge, built in 1839 for the GWR, is Listed at grade II for the following principal reasons:

• Architectural: Tudor-gothic design which is characteristic of work on the Bristol-Bath Division of the GWR. * Historic: The GWR was one of the earliest established railway companies in England and thus the bridge is an early example (1839) of a railway structure dating from the pioneering phase in national railway development. * Association: The bridge is constructed to a design by the engineer and architect Isambard Kingdom Brunel, widely perceived as one of the most important transport engineers of the C19. * Intactness: It survives relatively intact, despite some patching to the arch. * Group value: Strong group value with other listed structures on the GWR especially nearby Twerton Viaduct and Brook Road Bridge. This group value is enhanced by the structures' shared architectural style.

Listing NGR: ST7331364584