Bathampton Toll Bridge is an

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

in England, carrying a minor road across the River Avon near

Bathampton Bathampton () is a village and civil parish east of Bath, England on the south bank of the River Avon. The parish has a population of 1,603. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the village and a toll bridge links Bathampton to Batheast ...

, to the east of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. It is a Grade II

listed structure In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The bridge was built of

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...

by Hickes and Isaac in 1872, for the Bridge Company Turnpike Trust. It has nine pointed arches: three larger ones in the centre and three smaller ones at either end. The north end was built over an earlier bridge and

mill leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or Aqueduct (watercourse), aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill ...

. The first version of the bridge was built in the 1850s and replaced a ford and ferry. The road over the bridge between

Batheaston Batheaston is a village and civil parish east of the English city of Bath, on the north bank of the River Avon. The parish had a population of 2,735 in 2011. The northern area of the parish, on the road to St Catherine, is an area known as N ...

and Bathampton is single-track with give way signs. On the Bathampton side to the south of the river, the road crosses three further bridges. The first is a modern bridge over the dual-carriageway Batheaston/

Swainswick Swainswick is a small village and civil parish, north east of Bath, on the A46 in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 265. The village name was also spelled as Sweyneswik and Sw ...

Bypass which is part of the A4. The second crosses the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the or ...

and the final bridge is over the

Kennet and Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cent ...

. The

Toll house A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road, canal, or toll bridge. History Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and ...

was built at the same time as the bridge and is also Grade II listed. It is a two storey building with a high pitch slate roof. A board advertising the historical toll prices is still in place. In 2021, it had the tenth highest revenue of UK toll bridges, with a revenue of over £1 million. The bridge is owned by the

General Estates Company The General Estates Company is a privately held company registered in the United Kingdom and incorporated in October 1900. Its current businesses include the provision of mobile home parks, and ownership and operation of toll bridges. The compan ...

, who also own

Whitchurch Bridge Whitchurch Bridge is a toll bridge that carries the B471 road over the River Thames in England. It links the villages of Pangbourne in Berkshire, and Whitchurch-on-Thames in Oxfordshire – crossing the river just downstream of Whitchurch Lo ...

, a toll bridge across the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

Gallery

File:Toll House, Batheaston - geograph.org.uk - 340481.jpg, The Toll House File:Bathampton Toll Bridge and The Bathampton Mill - panoramio (1).jpg, The bridge road File:Bathampton Toll Bridge 20.JPG, Close up of bridge

References

{{Commons category, Bathampton Toll Bridge Toll bridges in England Grade II listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset Bridges in Somerset Grade II listed bridges Bridges across the River Avon, Bristol