242 OLD BRIDGES. PART IV. 



an emblem of the Trinity. 1 The bridge stands on 

 three piers, from each of which springs the segment 

 of a circular arch, all the segments meeting at a point 

 in the centre. It is situated at the junction of the three 

 principal streets of the little town, which was originally 

 built on piles ; and along those streets the waters of the 

 Nene, the Welland, and the Catwater respectively, used 

 to flow and meet under the bridge. Carrying out the 

 Trinitarian illustration, each pier of the bridge was said 

 to stand in a different county : one in Lincoln, the second 

 in Cambridge, and the third in Northampton. The road 

 over the bridge is so steep that horses can scarcely cross 

 it, and they usually go under it ; indeed the arches 

 underneath are now quite dry. This curious structure 

 is referred to in an ancient charter of the year 943, 

 although the precise date of its erection is unknown. 

 On the south-west wing, facing the London road, is a 

 sitting figure, carved in stone, very much battered about 

 the face by the mischievous boys of the place. The 

 figure has a globe or orb in its hand. It is supposed to 

 be a statue of King Ethelbald, though it is commonly 

 spoken of in the village as Oliver Cromwell holding a 

 penny loaf ! 



The first road-bridge of which we have any authentic 

 account is that erected at Stratford over the river Lea, 

 several miles to the east of London. The road into 

 Essex by the Old Ford across the Lea is noticed as early 

 as the seventh century, when it appears that the body 

 of St. Erkenwald was stopped there by the flood while 

 being conveyed from the abbey of Barking, where he 



1 The famous bridge at Croyland is j money, than for any real use ; for 

 the greatest curiosity in Britain, if I though it stands in a bog, and must 



not in Europe. It is of a triangular 

 form, rising from three segments of a 

 circle, and meeting at a point at top. 

 It seems to have been built under the 

 direction of the abbots, rather to excite 

 admiration and furnish a pretence for 

 granting indulgences and collecting 



have cost a vast sum, yet it is 

 steep in its ascent and descent that 

 neither carriages nor horsemen can 

 get over it. ' History and Antiqui- 

 ties of Croyland Abbey.' Bibliotheca 

 Tc>}K>graphica Britannica, No. 11. 



