Five Arch Bridge

The Five Arch Bridge is a dam with an overflow and ornamental bridge, likely built between 1758 and 1760, designed by Sanderson Miller, who created a bridge for George Grenville in 1758. The structure is inspired by William Kent’s Shell Bridge at Stowe. It is constructed from coursed rubble and fossilized stone, featuring ashlar dressings. The piers have ashlar plinths, quoins, and pedimented copings, with an ashlar band along the top of the bridge and no parapet. The bridge has five segmental arches, with the central arch slightly projecting and featuring a pediment on the west side; the east side is damaged. This central arch includes an overflow channel leading to a lower lake. The bridge curves outward at each end. Below the bridge on the east side, the dam has a matching stone facing with blind arches flanking the central overflow arch.

The bridge is part of a historic designed landscape surrounding an early 18th-century country house, which was likely laid out by George London and Henry Wise. This area developed into an extensive mid-18th-century park for George Grenville, designed by Lancelot Brown, with significant contributions from William Pitt, later the first Earl of Chatham.