Barnstaple Long Bridge (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Barnstaple.
In the historic county of Devonshire.
Modern Authority of Devon.
1974 county of Devon.
Medieval County of Devon.

OS Map Grid Reference: SS55773293
Latitude 51.07762° Longitude -4.05997°

Barnstaple Long Bridge has been described as a probable Fortified Bridge.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

Barnstaple Long Bridge is a late 13th century stone bridge of 16 pointed arches, 520 feet long and approached by two causeways. Sir Henry de Tracey (died 1274) left in his will certain rents for its upkeep. Grade 1 (Oliver 1938; Oliver 1946; list of buildings 1973).
The origin of Barnstaple's Long Bridge is obscure. In 1333 the bridge was being repaired, and early in the 16th century it had 13 stone arches which were "much dilapidated". Three wooden arches known as Maiden Arches were rebuilt with stone in 1589. The narrow packhorse bridge with projecting cut-waters and recesses was widened in 1796 when the recesses were removed, and again in 1832 when a supplementary footpath was added.
It was finally widened in 1963 and the medieval, pointed arches, 4.1 m wide, can be clearly seen beneath the modern arches. (The source of Harper's illustration is now known, possibly a reconstruction) (Harper 1910; Field Investigators Comments F1 MJF 01-APR-1976)
Bridge. Probably built originally in the C13th of masonry (never of wood). Sixteen stone arches, thirteen of them medieval, the three on the town side apparently replaced in 1589. 520ft long plus the original causeways, the W causway 1500ft, the E one, up to the South Gate, 300ft. The bridge has been widened three times, the last time-inconcrete faced with masonry- in the 1960s, when the cast-iron additions of 1834 (by James Green) were replaced in masonry. On the underside of the arches the medieval width of less than 10ft can still be seen (Pevsner 1989). (PastScape 33920)

St Thomas a Becket's Chapel beside the east end of Barnstaple Bridge is recorded in 1312 (Henderson and Jervoise). (PastScape 33904)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1384979
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 33920; 33904.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MDV827; MDV12522.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Engineering Timelines
Books
- Pevsner, Nikolaus and Cherry, Bridget, 1989, Buildings of England: Devon (Harmondsworth) p. 153
  Cruse, J.B., 1982, The Long Bridge of Barnstaple & the Bridge Trust (Barnstaple: Aycliffe Press)
  Bone, M., 1973, Barnstaple's Industrial Archaeology (Exeter Industrial Archaeological Group) p. 11
  Henderson, C. and Jervoise, E., 1938, Old Devon Bridges (A. Wheaton) p. 86
  Harper, S., 1910, History of Barnstaple for Boys and Girls, Past and Present (Barnstaple: Sydney Harper & Sons) p. 57, 58
Periodical Articles
- Pill, D.H., 1966, 'The Administration of the Diocese of Exeter under Bishop Veysey' Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 98 p. 262-78
  Oliver, B.W., 1946, 'The Long Bridge of Barnstaple Part 2' Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 78 p. 177-92
  Oliver, B.W., 1938, 'The Long Bridge of Barnstaple' Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 70 p. 193-7
  Chope, R.P., 1926-27, 'Early Bridges' Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries Vol. 14 p. 94, 96
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 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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