Durham Elvet Bridge (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Durham.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of Durham.
1974 county of County Durham.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ27554242
Latitude 54.77597° Longitude -1.57333°

Durham Elvet Bridge has been described as a certain Fortified Bridge.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Bridge. Early C13 incorporating one arch of late C12 work. Central 3 arches renewed after 1771 flood; north side (upstream) doubled in width in 1804-5. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings. 7 river arches, 2 land arches on west and one on east. East arch stepped southwards is round and chamfered; other south arches are double-chamfered and 2-centred, with 5 ribs of which the outer is chamfered; northern extension has cutwaters alternately sloping- topped and hipped, flanking 2-centred arches. Hipped south cutwaters. Band at road bed level; parapet with low rounded coping; stone steps alongside on north side at west end. 2 west land arches are beneath present road; the easternmost of them adapted as house of correction in 1632 has iron grilles over boarded doors. South-east arch supported medieval chapel of St. Andrew, of which part may survive under No. 97 Elvet Bridge (q.v.). (Listed Building Report)

Elvet Bridge was built by Bishop Pudsey (1153–95), and with the exception of the two centre arches, which have been rebuilt, the old bridge is intact. It was guarded by a gate and towers and had a chapel at each end; that on the east side still remains. (VCH)

A gateway stood at Elvet Bridge as part of the defences of Durham built in 1315. It was demolished in 1760. (Keys to the Past D1218)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1002352, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number du4
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1121355 , 1159851
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 24457.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D34562; D1218.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  Durham World Heritage Site
  Bridges on the Tyne
Books
- Page, Wm (ed), 1928, 'The city of Durham: Rivers, bridges and mills' VCH Durham Vol. 3 (London) p. 62-4 online transcription
  Jervoise, E., 1931, The Ancient Bridges of the North of England (London; The Architectural Press for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) p. 40-3
Periodical Articles
- Harrison, D., McKeague, P. and Watson, B., 2010, 'England's fortified medieval bridges and bridge chapels: a new survey' Medieval Settlement Research Vol. 25 p. 45-51 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Bruce Watson, 2013 Sept, Gazetteer of fortified bridges (working list kindly shared with Gatehouse)

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*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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