238 OLD BRIDGES. 



and indicate their origin. Tims, along th r , o ld line of 

 road between London and Dover, there was first Deep 

 Ford, now Deptford, at the crossing of the Unveiis- 

 bonrrie next Crayford on the river Cray Dartford on 

 the Darent and Aylesford on the Medway, upon the 

 line of the pilgrim's road between the west of England 

 and Becket's shrine at Canterbury. In all other direc- 

 tions round London it was the same. Thus, eastward, 

 there was Stratford l on the Lea, Romford on the Bourne, 

 and Chelmsford on the Chelmer. Westward were Brent- 

 ford and Twyford on the Brent, Watford on the Colne, 

 and Oxenford or Oxford on the Isis. 2 And along the 

 line of the Great North Road, crossing as it did the large 

 streams descending from the high lands of the centre of 

 England towards the North Sea, the fords were very 

 numerous. At Hertford the Maran was crossed, at 

 Bedford the Ouse, at Stamford the Welland, and so on 

 through the northern counties of England. 



As population and travelling increased, the expedient 

 of the Bridge was adopted, to enable rivers of moderate 

 width to be crossed dryshod. An uprooted tree thrown 

 across a narrow stream was probably the first bridge : 

 and he would be considered a potent man in his way 

 who laid down a couple of such trees, fixed upon them 

 a cross-planking, and so enabled foot-passengers and 

 pack-horses to cross from one bank to the other. 

 But these loose timber structures were very apt to lie 

 swept away by the rains of autumn, and thus the con- 

 tinuous track would again become completely broken. 

 In a rough district, where rocky streams with rugged 

 banks had to be crossed, such interruptions must ne- 

 cessarily have led to considerable inconvenience, and 

 hence arose the idea of tying the rocky gorges together 



1 There are numerous 1 nidges in 

 England at places called Stratford or 

 Stretlbrd literally the lord on the 



2 Oxenford was the sj ot at which 

 the Thames, then called the Isis, was 

 most easily fordable for cattle. H. 



street or road, the lord being after- Brand ret h, Ksq., in ' Archseologia, 1 

 wards superseded by the bridge. [ vol. xxvii., 97. 



