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Wessex Attractions: Over Bridge

Before the opening of the first Severn Bridge in 1966, traffic wishing to cross the River Severn from Bristol and points south had two choices: the Aust Ferry, and Over Bridge in Gloucester. The latter was built in the late 1820s from a design by Thomas Telford (1757-1834), the Scottish civil engineer nicknamed “the colossus of roads”, whose other achievements include the Menai Bridge. The design was based on Jean-Rodolphe Perronet’s design for a bridge over the Seine at Neuilly.

Telford’s 150-foot, single span stone bridge replaced an earlier bridge dating back to Tudor times, though there had been a bridge there for much longer, as one is recorded in the Domesday Book. It closed to traffic in 1974, when the present A40 bridge was opened, but remains as a pedestrian bridge.

The bridge is currently maintained by English Heritage, and is a scheduled monument. It is two miles from Gloucester railway station and is well-served by local buses. The postcode, for satnav purposes, is GL2 8BZ.

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