THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE MONK’S BRIDGE. 33 
the Roman, the Medieval, and the Modern bridges were 
found. First, the piling of the Modern bridge had bay 
piles 12 in. X 12 in. driven into the bed of the river, behind 
which were sheeting piles 6 in. thick grooved into each 
other; in the space thus enclosed, the foundations of the 
pier were laid, the space between being filled in with 
concrete.” 
The Medieval dam was formed quite differently, two rows 
of bay piles were driven and balk timber let down one over 
the other between them. 
In the Roman work, the piles were iron shod, and driven 
into the bed of the river, and a framework of timber well 
morticed and tenoned and half-checked laid upon it. In 
all such work, the Roman timber work is found of greater 
excellence than that of later construction. In the old Teign 
Bridge on the Roman road between Totness and Plymouth, 
taken down in 1815, the Roman work was found in a fine 
state of preservation. 
As a rule, the Roman bridge had no arches, some however, 
have been found arched but of no great span. The piers 
are built of a size and strength sufficient to withstand the 
thrust of the water without the aid of an arch, and it is only 
in later days arches were added, and these often raised the 
roadway to an inconvenient height as at Monk’s Bridge. 
Most Roman bridges had a timber roadway carried from 
pier to pier, and at Cholliford, the Roman station of 
Cilurium, in the ruins of the bridge over the North Tyne, 
we have sufficient data left to reconstruct the timbering of 
the roadway of the later bridge, for there were two Roman 
bridges, an early and a later one. Comparing the spans of 
the two bridges between the piers (Cholliford Bridge, 
35 ft. 6in.; Monk’s Bridge, 32 ft. 11 in.) it can be seen that 
there would have been no difficulty for there to have been 
a wooden platform at Monk’s Bridge. Newcastle Bridge 
had a timber roadway over it which lasted till the Medizval 
