Captain Cooks Monument the Shell Bridge is a Grade I listed building in the Buckinghamshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 July 1966. Monument.

Captain Cooks Monument the Shell Bridge

WRENN ID
white-casement-cobweb
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Buckinghamshire
Constituency
Buckingham and Bletchley MP: Callum Anderson (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
13 July 1966
Type
Monument
Address
Captain Cooks Monument the Shell Bridge, Stowe
OS grid reference
SP 677 373
Coordinates
52.03033, -1.01398
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Shell Bridge and Captain Cook's Monument, located in the Elysian Fields at Stowe School, is a significant structure built around 1740 by architect William Kent. The bridge is designed to resemble a low dam and features stone dressings with rendering that is encrusted with shells. It consists of five bays with low arches, where the central bay projects and is topped with a pediment, flanked by two smaller pediments above the piers on either side. Atop the bridge stands Captain Cook's Monument, a small structure that includes a portrait medallion dated 1778.

Local climate

Captain Cooks Monument the Shell Bridge sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 79% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 78% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 60% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Radon risk assessment
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