Description

BLENHEIM
SP41NW
2/14 Grand Bridge
27/08/57
GV I
Bridge. c.1706-1712. By Sir John Vanburgh. Limestone ashlar. Semi-circular
archway, with blocked voussoirs, flanked by 2-storey square projecting bays:
each bay has segmental-arched opening with keystone linked to bracketed cornice
and with bracketed sill, above niche. Outer bays have rusticated semi-circular
arches and bands of frosted rustication beneath parapet. Canted abutments have
rusticated quoin strips. The bridge was left unfinished when work on the palace
stopped in 1712: Vanbrugh intended the central span to be surmounted by tall
arcades within corner towers, thus making a version of Palladio's Rialto Bridge.
The bridge, which spanned virtual marshland before Capability Brown made the
lake, has over 30 rooms, some with chimneypieces and dish vaulting, and was
first conceived as a habitable viaduct. The masons were Peisley and Townesend.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: p473; National Monuments Record; K. Downes,
Hawkesmoor, 1959, p282; K. Downes, Vanbrugh, 1977, pp72-3; D. Green, Blenheim
Palace, 1951, pp100-102, 117, 127;Blenheim Park is included in the HBMC Register
of Parks and Gardens at Grade I)

Listing NGR: SP4389316414

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26304671

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)