Bridge On Former Rother Navigation (At Su88942135)

A single rounded-headed arched bridge dating to 1794, constructed of red, light and dark grey coloured ashlar. The arch is formed of blocks with an offset course of blocks above. On the west side of the bridge, above the offset course, is a date block inscribed 'I D T C / 1794', and on the east side in the corresponding position stands a stone bust, too weather-worn to determine the subject, though it may well represent the project's patron, the third Earl of Egremont. The parapet has a coping of tooled ashlar, with piers at the end of each parapet, each surmounted by a chamfered coping stone.

The bridge lies adjacent to the Canal Basin at West Lavington, a sort of marina and terminus for canal traffic on the Rother Navigation. The River Rother between Midhurst and its junction with the River Arun Navigation was made navigable between 1791 and 1795 by the third Earl of Egremont to transport coal to Midhurst and Petworth, and to export corn and timber from the area. The line of the canal was surveyed by William Jessop and for the most part followed the natural course of the river. It included only 2 miles of artificial cuts along its total length of 11 ¼ miles, rising 54 feet by means of 8 locks.

The canals and canalised waterways of Sussex formed a significant part of the county's transport system for 300 years, reaching their peak in the 1830s. The advent of railways across West Sussex in the mid-19th century brought competition that eventually undermined commercial water transport. The railway to Midhurst, completed in 1866, caused the Rother Navigation's fortune to decline, though it remained in commercial use until March 1888. When commercial use ended, pleasure skiffs were kept in the Canal Basin. The bridge was restored in 1977 as part of the town's commemoration of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee, and remains in use.