Clyst St Mary Bridge and causeway

Heritage listing

Details The monument includes Clyst St Mary Bridge and causeway. The bridge, which is first recorded in the early decades of the 13th century, comprises several arches linked by a walled causeway which once carried the road from Sidmouth to Exeter across the River Clyst and its flood plain. The bridge stands just to the west of the village of Clyst St Mary (formerly Bishop's Clyst) about 5km east of Exeter at a crossing point of the river which may have been in use during the Roman period. The stone-built bridge is considered to be the oldest surviving medieval bridge in Devon outside the city of Exeter with an earliest documentary reference of 1238 (as `pontem de Clist'). The bridge has been shown to display at least four episodes of construction ranging from the medieval to the post- medieval periods. Earlier commentators have suggested that the two low segmental arches spanning the River Clyst itself at the western end of the bridge represent the most ancient part of the structure, possibly that referred to in 1238. These arches are 3.4m wide and they would have carried a roadway 2.8m in width. Each vault is supported by four chamfered ribs springing from a level 1.16m above a plinth. Construction is of trap (a volcanic basalt) and sandstone ashlar; the ribs are entirely of sandstone. Significantly, there is no Heavitree stone in their construction. Major quarrying of the distinctive red breccia known as Heavitree stone took place in nearby areas, including the parish of Heavitree from whence the stone derived its name, from the mid-14th century onwards. Its absence in the western bridge arches would support a suggested 13th-early 14th century date for construction; quarries of volcanic trap lie at much greater distance and Heavitree stone would almost certainly have

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.