The Churchill Bridge is a historic bridge carrying Mountain Road over Bicknell Brook, in a rural corner of

Buckfield, Maine Buckfield is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. Buckfield is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England City and Town Area. It is a member of Regional School Unit 10 along with nearby Hartford and Sumner. The t ...

. It is one of three documented stone

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...

bridges in the state. It is a dry laid rubble stone structure which carries the road over the stream at a height of about . The total length of the bridge is about , and the

clear span Span is the distance between two intermediate supports for a structure, e.g. a beam (structure), beam or a bridge. A span can be closed by a solid beam or by a rope. The first kind is used for bridges, the second one for power lines, overhead telec ...

over the brook is . The span is formed by five massive ledge stones laid on rubble abutments about above the stream. Additional rubble is laid above to form the bed of the gravel roadway. The bridge crosses the stream at a slight angle, so its abutments are extended with wingwalls to the northwest and southeast. The bridge is believed to have been built around 1797 by William Churchill, whose homestead was located nearby. He apparently built the bridge in exchange for a tax abatement from the town. The town owns the bridge and is responsible for its maintenance. The bridge is a rare survivor; a 1924 survey identified 20 stone bridges in Buckfield alone. The bridge was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1994. At the time of its listing, it had last received substantive maintenance in 1938. Two other stone lintel bridges are listed on the National Register in Maine, which date to the late 18th or early 19th century; they are the Grist Mill Bridge in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and Thompson's Bridge in

Industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Bridges completed in 1797 Bridges in Oxford County, Maine Stone bridges in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Oxford County, Maine

See also

References