THE GREAT BRIDGE OF BURTON-ON-TRENT, 18 
destruction of this, ‘the most notorious piece of work of a civil 
public building in this county or anywhere of the kind perhaps in 
England,” which was the opinion of Dr. Plot. The whole of that 
part of the Bridge with the buildings upon it, which crossed the 
‘Western part of the Trent between the approach to Burton Meadows 
and Bridge Street, were the first to be removed, the foundations of 
the buttresses in many cases still remain. The other portions of the 
Bridge were left intact for a number of years, and might have been 
standing yet, but, unfortunately, an outcry was made at Quarter 
Sessions that the old Bridge was both a nuisance and an obstruction, 
and the Midland Railway Company was ordered to complete its 
removal. But as if to give the lie direct to those who ordered its 
destruction, the removal of the last stones was followed by the 
greatest flood Burton has been visited with since 1797. 
And I do not think I can do better than finish with some des- 
cription from Molyneux’s Account of the Old Bridge given in the 
“ Burton Weekly News” 1876. 
** Although it may not have attracted special attention the line 
of the Old Bridge across the valley was one of an almost continuous 
unbroken water surface here, the channels of the Trent now two in 
number, being then divided into three, and to this was due the line 
of curvature of the Bridge, as it was necessary for each buttress to 
be placed at right angles with the flow of the stream, and to this fact 
is due the long life of the Old Bridge.” The curved character of the 
old bridge is clearly shown in the accompanying view taken from 
an old print dated 1760, 
