Walton Bridge
| Walton Bridge | |
|---|---|
Walton Bridge
(taken in Summer 2013 from upstream) |
|
| Carries | A224 road |
| Crosses | River Thames |
| Locale | Walton on Thames and Shepperton, Surrey |
| Characteristics | |
| Material | Steel |
| Height | 18 feet 3 inches (5.56 m) |
| History | |
| Opened | 2013 |
Walton Bridge is a road bridge across the River Thames in England, carrying the A244 between Walton-on-Thames and Shepperton, crossing the Thames on the reach between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.
The bridge is the first Thames road bridge which is on both banks upstream of Greater London. The bridge is the sixth on the site. Before the first bridge, the site had a ferry dating at least to the 17th century.
Near Walton Bridge, and removed when the first bridge was built in 1750, were several barrows. Spear heads and earthenware vessels are said by J. Douglas to have been found in them.
From Elmbridge ferries run by operators under a Crown-granted monopoly, subject to conditions, existed since the Stuart period: as follows:
The two remaining join those in London (the Twickenham Ferry and Woolwich Ferry) and seasonal visitor services in Oxford.
Land near the relevant site was said in 1633 to have been washed away, reflecting the lack of the additional river channels at Windsor, Laleham and Weybridge, lack of weirs and former marshiness of the double bend of the river known as Cowey Sale and opposing small meander of land, Thames Meadow on the north bank.
A Shepperton ferry is recorded in the 15th century – at which position however is uncertain.
In 1747 Samuel Dicker, local landowner and later MP for Plymouth, obtained permission to build a bridge at Walton. It was designed by William Etheridge and built by White of Weybridge to consist of "timbers tangent to a circle of 100 feet diameter" and was built so that a single timber could be extracted and repaired without disturbing the rest of the bridge.Old Walton Bridge was completed in August 1750 and acquired some fame, meriting an article in the Gentleman's Magazine, a report in Daniel Defoe's Tour in 1753 and a painting by Canaletto in 1754. The painting, which shows the rococo-style of this bridge, is in Dulwich Picture Gallery.
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Wikipedia