Fretherne Bridge House

Fretherne Bridge House is a bridgekeeper's house situated at Fretherne Bridge on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. Constructed in the early 19th century, it is possibly the work of Robert Mylne, the first principal engineer to the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company. The house is rendered with an artificial slate roof and a small brick ridge stack. It has a cruciform plan, with a shallow pediment on each face, presenting a single storey towards the canal and two storeys on the remaining sides. The main front facing the canal has been altered and now features two fluted Doric columns, which are no longer positioned in antis, alongside a 20th-century two-light window to the left. The pediment retains a plain frieze and cornice. The original beaded doorcase remains, containing a door with six bolection-moulded panels. There is scattered fenestration, with 16-pane sashes to the sides. A two-storey lean-to extends from the rear, accompanied by smaller, single-storey wings on either side. Survey work for the original canal route, intended to run from Gloucester to Berkeley, was undertaken by Mylne in 1793. The canal's terminal point was subsequently changed to Sharpness in 1813, and the canal opened in 1827.