Radcot Bridge

Radcot Bridge
Radcot Bridge
Coordinates	51°41′35″N 1°35′19″W / 51.693081°N 1.588644°W / 51.693081; -1.588644Coordinates: 51°41′35″N 1°35′19″W / 51.693081°N 1.588644°W / 51.693081; -1.588644
Carries	A4095 road, Thames Path
Crosses	River Thames
Locale	Radcot, Oxfordshire
Maintained by	Oxfordshire County Council
Heritage status	Grade I listed
Characteristics
Design	arch
Material	Stone
Height	11 feet 4 inches (3.45 m)
Load limit	18 tonnes (18 long tons; 20 short tons)
History
Opened	circa 1200
Location

Radcot Bridge is a crossing of the Thames in England, south of Radcot, Oxfordshire, and north of Faringdon, Oxfordshire which is in the district of that county that was in Berkshire.^{[n 1]} It carries the A4095 road across the reach above Radcot Lock. In many analyses it is a series of three bridges – before the northern one is reached, mainly to the east, is the smaller island hosting the Swan Inn. On the main north bank are slight earthworks forming a large square in which further remains have been found of Matilda's Castle and some Roman artefacts.

The bridges[]

There are three stone bridges to cross this part of the upper Thames valley, from south to north: Old Radcot Bridge,^[1][2] the Canal Bridge (in protection status likewise listed as Radcot Bridge)^[3] and Pidnell Bridge which is closest to main building of the smaller island which is for the Swan hotel/restaurant. The latter is counter-intuitively furthest from Pidnell – the nearest farmstead or hamlet in Faringdon parish.

Originally built on the Thames, Old Radcot Bridge is now on about a third of the local flow since the construction, in 1787, of a new cut for the Thames and Severn Canal. The Canal Bridge was built at the same time. Radcot Bridge is the oldest standing bridge on the Thames, having been as to some of its core built, with pointed arches of Taynton stone, around 1200. The Cistercian monks of Saint Mary at Cîteaux in Normandy were granted land for the purpose by King John.

The larger island which is crossed has a rectangular cottage named after the bridge with one side almost against the road, and which is a listed building.^[4]; maps show a smaller building across the road and no other buildings on this island which is prone to occasional flooding.

Much of the structure was torn down during the Battle of Radcot Bridge on 19 December 1387 between troops loyal to Richard II, led by court favourite Robert de Vere, and an army captained by Richard's cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby – the future Henry IV. The bridge was rebuilt in 1393. It was severely damaged during the latter part of the Wars of the Roses, and was largely rebuilt as it appears today, with a flattened centre arch.

Radcot Bridge became a toll bridge and its wharf was commercially important as the highest shipping point on the Thames, with the junction of the Severn-Thames canal not far away at Lechlade, Gloucestershire. During this era of the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom the local towpath would also have be become heavily worn year-round for the first time.

The longer Thames Path, variants of which were first made in the 19th century, crosses the bridges.

Matilda's Castle[]

Time Team, in a programme first broadcast on 15 February 2009, excavated Matilda's Castle in the summer of 2008. They found that visible earthworks near Radcot Bridge dated from the 17th-century English Civil War, when Parliamentary forces built them to support cannon used to bombard Royalist forces garrisoned in Radcot House. Underneath some of these earthworks were remains of a square Norman keep dating from the time of the 12th-century Anarchy. Evidence suggested the tower was pulled down a century after it was built. Its remains were further damaged by later constructions on the site. Some Roman remains, possibly from a villa, were also found.^[5]

See also[]

• Crossings of the River Thames

Notes and references[]

Footnotes[]

Citations[]

Further reading[]

• Toynbee, M.R. (1949). "Radcot Bridge and Newbridge" (PDF). Oxoniensia. Oxford Architectural and Historical Society. XIV: 46–52. Retrieved 27 October 2013.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Radcot Bridge.

• Faringdon Online: Radcot Bridge
• New Bridge — Oldest Bridge over the Thames, Vale and Downland Museum