Listed Building record MDO4715 - Crawford Bridge, Spetisbury

A bridge carrying the road from Spetisbury to Tarrant Crawford over the River Stour. The medieval bridge was widened in 1819, so the western part of the present bridge is medieval while the eastern part is later. The west side of the bridge has triangular cut-waters which continue upwards to form pedestrian refuges on the causeway.

Crawford Bridge was mentioned in the Charter of the Abbey of Tarent in 1235, and in 1506 indulgences for forty days were granted for its repair. <1>

Crawford Bridge across the River Stour has nine arches of coursed rubble and ashlar. At the N end are three narrow land arches of brick and at the S end is a short stretch of brickwork with no arch. The W side of the bridge is Medieval but the E side was rebuilt when the road was widened in 1819 and presumably it was then that a stone inscribed 1719 was reset near the centre of this side. The Quarter Sessions orders of 1719 refer to expenditure on the bridge. <2>

<1> Jervoise, E, 1930, The Ancient Bridges of the South of England, 81-2 (Monograph). SWX3998.

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 243-244 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(2) CRAWFORD BRIDGE (91900198), carrying the road from Spetisbury to Tarrant Crawford across the R. Stour, has nine arches of coursed rubble and ashlar (Plate 199); at the N. end are three narrow land arches of brick, and at the S. end is a short stretch of brickwork with no arch. The W. side of the bridge is medieval, but the E. side was rebuilt when the road was widened in 1819.
On the W. side, each pier has a triangular cut-water, and in alternate piers these projections are carried up to road level and are encompassed by the parapet to form pedestrian refuges. On the E. side there are no cut-waters and no refuges. All the arches are approximately semicircular and heighten slightly toward mid-stream, causing the parapet to rise gently from the abutments to a central point between the 5th and 6th arches from the S. The road curves slightly to the E. between the 7th and 8th arches. The parapet walls are of chequered flint and ashlar, with some patches of rubble, and are capped by a steeply pitched ashlar coping. Near the centre of the E. side is a large stone inscribed 1719, presumably reset in its present position when the bridge was widened in 1819. The Quarter Sessions orders of 1719 refer to expenditure on the bridge.’

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 394 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1978 (Map). SDO17396.

(ST 91900200) Crawford Bridge (NAT)

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209642 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 21 2025 5:07PM