ClIAl'. I. 



()!. 1) 1',1,'IIHJKS. 



241 



Similar bridi^vs were erected at different points along 

 tlir lines of the Roman military roads wherever a river 

 had to be crossed; and it is probable that the town of 

 PonU'f'ract (Pons fractus) derived its name from a broken 

 Roman bridge in that neighbourhood, the remains ol 

 which were visible in the time of Leland. 



The first arched bridge of stone erected in England is 

 said to have been the singular-looking structure still 

 standing in the immediate neighbourhood of Croyland 

 Abbey in the Fens. As the monks were in early times the 



YLAND BRIDGE. 

 [Prom the Topographia Britannica ] 



principal agriculturists, gardeners, and land-reclaimers, 

 so they were the principal church and bridge-builders. 

 This triangular bridge at Croyland, however, could 

 have been erected for no particularly useful purpose, 

 but rather as a curiosity; and it has been conjectured 

 that it was reared out of the - offerings of pilgrims to 

 the shrine of St. Guthlac, the saint of the Fens, as 



VOL. I. R 



