Summary

Cart bridge of around the late C18, spanning the Itchen Navigation.

Description

Cart bridge of around 1760, spanning the Itchen Navigation.
 
MATERIALS AND PLAN: the bridge is built of multi-hued bricks, with stone coping to the parapets. It is orientated east to west, and now provides pedestrian access across the former Itchen Navigation.
 
DESCRIPTION: the brick walling is predominantly laid in header bond, with some stretcher bond repair. To either side, the wing walls flare out in a sinuous curve, terminating in a brick pillar. The voussoirs of the broad, round-headed arch are formed by a soldier course of bricks. The stone coping has chisel marks to the side face. The track across the bridge is narrow and was presumably designed for cart traffic. It has a rubble stone base with some larger stone slabs.

History

In 1617, the City of Winchester paid for a survey of the River Itchen to see if it was possible to provide a waterborne route through to Southampton. In 1665 an Act of Parliament was passed to allow seven investors to dig a canal and connect up the various waterways to create the Itchen Navigation. The construction included a number of new locks, wharves and bridges and is thought to have taken place between 1671 and 1710, although further improvements continued to be added throughout the 1700s.

Despite disputes over water levels and carriage fees, it was used for around 150 years, before the arrival of the railway in 1839 prompted its decline, with the last barge journey recorded as 1869.

Wharf Bridge is thought to be the oldest surviving bridge on the Itchen Navigation, dating from around 1760. It lies just south of Black Bridge, which was constructed in the later C18 or early C19, and listed at Grade II (NHLE reference 1350749).

Reasons for Listing

Wharf Bridge, of around 1760, spanning the Itchen Navigation, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
 
Architectural interest:
 
* as a good example of a well-built, cart bridge which illustrates its intended use through the narrow form and stone pathway;
 
* it pre-dates 1850 and therefore falls within the period when most bridges are considered to be of special interest;
 
* it is an intact structure that appears to survive without extensive later modification.
 
Historic interest:
 
* it is situated on the Itchen Navigation and part of the infrastructure supporting this important C18 navigation route from Southampton to Winchester.
 
Group value:
 
* it has an historical functional relationship with the nearby, Grade II-listed, Black Bridge.

Recommended Books

• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)