Chap. VIII.
41A
Lambard says that in the time of Elizabeth, the revenues were converted to privateuses, and that the county was charged with a toll, and fifteenth, to supply the public wants;yet the bridge went out of repair, and was threatened with absolute destruction.
Sir William Cecil obtained from Queen Elizabeth permission for certain knights andgentlemen of the county to examine and report upon the defects, and a statute was passedin the eighteenth year of that queen’s reign, for the perpetual maintenance of RochesterBridge. Another statute, passed nine years after, makes some further provisions, theformer funds proving inadequate. About the middle of the eighteenth century three of thearches were rebuilt, and the approaches greatly improved, out of the funds derived from theestates belonging to the bridge.
Timber bridges of very simple construction were long made use of over the wide riversin England, but no skill was exhibited in the framing, nor any further mechanical principlethan that of strength ; trees merely squared, were laid side by side, at right angles with thestream, supported on a single row of perpindicular piles, or several rows parallel to eachother, capped and cross braced, and sometimes planked over to the height that the waterrose, the space between being filled in with stones. The roadway was cross-planked,covered with chalk and gravel, and frequently required repair, in consequence of the air notbeing admitted to the upper side of the planking.
Battersea Bridge over the Thames , nearly 900 feet in length, still remains an example ofsuch rude and primitive style of construction, and several others might be named.
Croyland Triangular Bridge is alluded to in a charter of the year 949, under the title of“ The Triangular Bridge of Croyland,” and though the present structure does not warrantso early a date being assigned to it, the construction is nevertheless curious; its stylo belongsto that in use at the commencement of the 14th century.
This bridge is situated on the west side of the abbey, at the confluence of three streams,the Welland, the Nync, and the Catwater or Catch-water Drain, all which unite and passunder it, and proceed thence by Spalding to the German Ocean. Three pointed arches,having their bases or abutments placed on the points of an equilateral triangle, meet in themiddle, and thus form three distinct watercourses, as well as three roadways ; the singu-larity of its arrangement has always made it an object of the greatest curiosity, and it is,perhaps, unique as a specimen of bridge building, though its utility is somewhat destroyedby the steepness of the ascent, which is almost too great for horses.
Each arch has three stone ribs, and the whole nine meet together in the centre; thebridge is of stone, and had it not been raised on such lofty abutments, long ere this thetorrents which flow occasionally under it must have swept it away ; the roadways are pavedwith pebbles, and have more the character of steps, so that carriages generally pass under,and not over it; the construction is thus rather calculated to excite wonder for its pecu-liarities, than admiration for its utility. When Croyland was established, and the arts beganto revive in Europe , we find the same skill evinced in the construction of bridges,so necessary for the security and convenience of the neighbourhood, as in the religiousedifices themselves, and this might have arisen from the example set by the fraternity beforealluded to, the Order of the Brothers of the Bridge. Croyland Abbey, which is near thebridge, was situated in a morass, and the foundations of its stone church were laid, accordingto Ingulphus, who was abbot at the commencement of the eleventh century, on innumerablelarge timber piles, driven into the ground, the softer parts being covered with earth broughtin boats from a distance of several miles. •
Bridge over the Ouse at York , taken down some years ago, was remarkable for the span ofits pointed arch; it was constructed in the reign of Elizabeth. The chapel and abutmentswere probably built before the commencement of the thirteenth century.
Laythorpe Postern and Bridge belong to the same period; the tower had gates defendedby a portcullis.
Many of the chapels constructed in bridges during the thirteenth century, like thisexample, were rich in architectural embellishment, and endowed with estates of considerableextent for the maintenance of the bridge, and for the support of the priests appointed toperform the service within them. The chapel sometimes occupied the middle pier, andeach extremity' of the bridge was protected by a machicolated and strongly embattledgateway'. The chapels were usually dedicated to St. Nicholas , he being the patron saintof sailors, and the Brothers of the Bridge scarcely ever terminated their work withoutcreating some memorial to this favourite saint, or votive offering to that Holy Spirit whichpresided over them and their designs.
Tlie bridges being very narrow, it was necessary', as the use of wheeled carriages becamemore general, to destroy these highly ornamented and picturesque structures, to obtain aconvenient access to the cities and towns with which they communicated. The passengersseated on the roof of the mail and ordinary coaches could not pass without danger underthe arches of the gateways, and where it was not practicable to turn the thoroughfare, theywere necessarily demolished.
It would be an endless task to enumerate all the bridges erected in England by the free-