Bridges feature prominently in literature, mythology and poetry. In the early days of civilisation and commerce a river crossing was often a recognised place of exchange and trade. Bridges were places on which roads converged or where points of contact between communities or areas. Inns and other facilities for travellers would spring up at the head of a bridge, and many present day towns, villages and public houses owe their existence, and often their name, to a nearby bridge.
Such is the prominence of bridges in our consciousness that it is a surprise to realise that they have not always been a common part of the English landscape. This book examines the Roman, Saxon and Norman origins of the medieval bridge, including its broader national and international context, and considers the engineering techniques and social background that led to its development during the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. A final chapter considers the survival of medieval bridges into the twentieth century.
