Stokeford Bridge

Limpley Stoke and Winsley, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire

There must always have been a crossing by a ford at the bottom of Winsley Hill to connect Bradford on Avon with the outlying part of its parish at Limpley Stoke across the river. A field on the Winsley side here was called Crockford -the name might refer to the fossil ammonites found by the river rather than pieces of pottery. The other name for the ford – Stokeford- is still used for the present bridge.

In 1731 Thomas Dike of Limpley Stoke and Moses Cottle sr of Winsley, who owned the land on their respective sides, agreed to build a bridge over the Avon. Stokeford Bridge was in existence by 1739.

Originally it was just a wooden structure, then the four stone piers with cutwaters were built and were connected by a wooden deck. The stone arches between the piers were added later, after 1870. It was widened in 1930 and again to its present width in 1964 (Wiltshire County Architect G.R. Chadwick), carrying the busy B3108 road.

It formed part of the network of turnpike roads. The 1752 first Road Act for Bradfordran from [Monkton] Combe Bridge to Winsley via Stokeford Bridge to Bradford. The 1777 Act (17 Geo. III cap. 98) renewed the provisions of the Act of 1752, adding the upkeep of Stokeford Bridge.

The bridge may have a Grade II listing, but it is also listed as a Scheduled Monument, but probably based on the misapprehension that it is of medieval origin.

An old print shows the bridge when timber platforms connected the stone piers in the early part of the 19th century. The tollhouse is shown on the Limpley Stoke side of the river.

Tolls for using the bridge and for using the road from Combe Bridge to Bradford were collected from the house on the Limpley Stoke (western) side, now called Bridge Cottage.

A similar view in a late nineteenth century photograph, with the bridge much narrower than it is today. Beyond it is the original wooden railway bridge erected by the Wilts Somerset & Weymouth Railway in 1857.