Henley Bridge

Henley Bridge
Oxfordshire, Berkshire
The upstream side of the bridge at Henley from near the Henley Royal Regatta headquarters on the Berkshire bank
Location
Carrying:	A4130 road
Crossing:	River Thames
Location
Location:	51°32’15"N, -0°54’1"W
Structure
Design:	Arch
Material:	Stone
History
	Built 1786
Information

Henley Bridge is a road bridge built in 1786 at Henley-on-Thames over the River Thames, between Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The bridge has five elliptical stone arches, and links Hart Street in Henley with White Hill (designated the A4130) leading up a steep hill to Remenham Hill. It crosses the Thames on the reach between Hambledon Lock and Marsh Lock, carrying the Thames Path across the river. It is a Grade-I listed building.

History

This point of the Thames has been used for crossing since ancient times. The current bridge replaced an earlier wooden structure, the foundations of which can be seen in the basement of the Henley Royal Regatta headquarters nearby on the Berkshire side. However, the remains of two stone arches on both sides of the river indicate the existence of an even more ancient stone bridge prior to the timber structure. This bridge has been identified by some authors as the bridge which the Romans crossed pursuing the Britons in AD 43, as described by Dion Cassius. This hypothesis is refuted by many other authors. The earliest recording of a bridge is in the Patent Rolls of 1232. In 1354, two granaries were leased on the bridge, which was timber on stone piers and several chapels are recorded. It was carried away in the great flood of 1774, but part of the eastern abutment is built on the intact easternmost span of the original 12th-century bridge.

Present bridge

Front view from upstream

It was originally designed in 1781 by William Hayward of Shrewsbury, who died in 1782 before the construction of the bridge had begun. The bridge was built by the Oxford mason John Townesend. Sculptures of Isis and Tamesis by Anne Seymour Damer are at the keystone of the central arch on each side of the bridge. Tamesis faces the north (downstream section of the bridge) and Isis the south (upstream section). The original models for these can be seen in the Henley Gallery at the nearby River and Rowing Museum.

The cost of building the bridge was approximately £10,000.

Damage and repair in 2010 and 2011

In August 2010 the bridge was damaged by a boat named Crazy Love. A £200,000 repair programme commenced the following year

Adjacent features

Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, is also close to the bridge on the Berkshire side. On the Oxfordshire (Henley) side are the Angel on the Bridge riverside public house and the Red Lion Hotel, an old coaching inn. St Mary the Virgin, the main civic church in Henley with its tower dominating the view, is also close by.

See also

• Crossings of the River Thames

Bibliography

• The Henley Guide. With fifteen illustrations, London: Hickman and Stapledon, 1826, https://books.google.com/books?id=0_MVAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&lr=#PPP11,M1 
• Cooke, William Bernard; Owen, Samuel (1811), The Thames, or, Graphic illustrations of seats, villas, public buildings, & picturesque scenery on the banks of that noble river. Vol. I, Pentonville: Printed for Vernor, Hood & Sharpe; and W.B Cooke by William Bell and Co., https://books.google.com/books?id=PkVNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&lr=#PPT14,M1 
• Ruddock, Ted (2008), Arch Bridges and Their Builders 1735-1835, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-09021-6, https://books.google.com/books?id=amQ9AAAAIAAJ&dq=Hayward+%26+%22Henley+bridge%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
• Walpole, Horace (1891), Peter Cunningham, ed., The letters of Horace Walpole, fourth earl of Orford, Volume 8, London: R. Bentley, https://books.google.com/books?id=3Ic1AAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s 

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Henley Bridge)

• Keystones:[1] &[2] — photographs from the Courtauld Institute of Art
• Where Thames smooth waters glide.