Bridgnorth Severn Bridge (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Bridgnorth.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO71869300
Latitude 52.53417° Longitude -2.41590°

Bridgnorth Severn Bridge has been described as a certain Fortified Bridge.

There are masonry footings remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The earliest bridge may have been at Quatford. Until the building of Bewdley Bridge c1447 the Bridgnorth bridge was the main crossing point of the Severn in this area. The Chapel was known variously as 'The Holy Trinity and St Sythe', 'St Clement and St Syth' or 'St Sythe'. St Sythe was a Saxon Saint who narrowly escaped drowning crossing a footbridge and was a favoured saint of Richard de Belleme. Buildings on the bridge stood more or less intact at the end of the 18th century but were gradually removed to aid traffic flow. By 1924, no buildings survived. A gatehouse stood on the bridge. This may be the roundheaded archway with rooms above shown in 18th century illustrations. It was removed by 1824, for in 1823-24 the bridge was widened throughout and both ends rebuilt (Clark-Maxwell). (Shropshire HER 00423)
The precise location of the chapel to St Osyth or St Sythe is uncertain, but it was probably over the fortified gate on the bridge. The foundation of the chapel may go back to the founding of the town, c1100. A detailed inventory of the chapel of the early C16 is published. The Gateway is shown in a painting of 1797. It seems probable that the Gatehouse was sited upon the second pier of the bridge. (Shropshire HER 00382)

Of medieval origin but largely rebuilt 1795 with further reconstruction by Telford 1823. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1053177
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 114698.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00423; 00382.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Abouth Bridgnorth
  Discovering Shropshire's History
Books
- Rowley, R.T., 1972, The Shropshire Landscape p. 187
Periodical Articles
- Clark-Maxwell, W.G., 1923/24, 'Bridgnorth: the Bridge and its Chapel' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 42 p. 118-125
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1908, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 2 p. 86 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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