Bishop's Bridge

The bridge is located upon what was one of only two fordable places on the Wensum in Norwich, the other being the site of Fye Bridge. It was possibly used as a crossing for the Roman road that ran through the city, known in medieval documents as Holme Street and presently as Bishopsgate. In 1275, Edward I of England granted a patent to William de Kerkeby, the Prior of Norwich, to build a gate with a bridge across the Wensum that would replace an earlier timber bridge. Richard Spynk, a distinguished citizen of Norwich, financed the bridge in circa 1340, both towers of the gatehouse are depicted despite one having been destroyed by this time during Kett's Rebellion. During the English Civil…

The bridge is made of brick, stone and flint, with three segmental arches. Its arches are strengthened with stone ribs that are dressed with brickwork, and stone piers with projecting cutwaters. Its spans vary from 15 ft to 25 ft. Stone tablets in the parapets display the city arms. A roadway runs over the bridge, wide enough for single-file traffic and footpaths on both sides, though the carriageway may have been wider in the past, with refuges in the parapets being possibly for pedestrians. It features a parapet with a semicircular turn at the west end and a wrought iron lamp standard on the north side.]]The bridge's fortified gatehouse was built on its west end, and extended onto the…