The Historic Bridges of Buckinghamshire

Book excerpt: Bridges have always played an important role in the social and economic history of human development and Buckinghamshire has a great wealth of them. Through delightful photographs, stories, and historical facts, this book looks at the historic bridges that make up the chronology of Buckinghamshire. Bridges in this book are more than 100 years old, mostly lie on public roads or rights-of-way, are publicly accessible, and have a significant proportion of the original bridge intact. Trade systems and road networks must solve the challenges of geography’s waterways, and bridges, causeways, fords, and flood systems were necessarily a key aspect of the experience of historical travel. Bridges and river crossings anchored the Buckinghamshire road network in the landscape, and once established it proved remarkably durable. Settlements, villages, and eventually cities have traditionally sprung up at bridgeheads or where a river could be crossed at any time of the year. Some examples in Buckinghamshire are Newport Pagnell, Buckingham, and Cookham. The most ancient, vital, and interesting architectural structures linked to use of these crossings are bridges, and people hold a deep fascination for them. There are thousands of bridges in Buckinghamshire, varying vastly in size, style, and materials. Many are stone, a few are wooden, and there are numerous brick and more modern steel and concrete constructions.