Perry Bridge, also known as the Zig Zag Bridge, is a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

over the River Tame in

Perry Barr Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, England. It is also the name of a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Perry Barr is also a parliamentary constituency; its Member of Parliament is Khalid Ma ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Built in 1711, it is a Grade II

listed building 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 ...

and a

Scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. The bridge is constructed of red sandstone in a

packhorse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...

style. It is believed that it is the bridge built by order of the Staffordshire Quarter Sessions, held in 1709, to take the place of a 'wood horse bridge' (Perry Barr was in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

until 1928). It is said to have been built by Sir Henry Gough of nearby Perry Hall.''The Story of Erdington: From Sleepy Hamlet to Thriving Suburb'', Douglas V. Jones, 1985, Westwood Press Publications () A crossing has been on the spot since Roman times as this was the exact spot where

Ryknild Street Icknield Street or Ryknild Street is a Roman roads in Britannia, Roman road in England, with a route roughly south-west to north-east. It runs from the Fosse Way at Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire () to Templeborough in South Yorkshire ( ...

(today's Aldridge Road) crossed the river, giving rise to the local placename, "Hol''ford''". A stream, "Holbrook", joins the river adjacent to the bridge. Written evidence of this crossing date back to as early as 1509 when there was mention of a field, named "Bridge Meadow", being located nearby.''Birmingham Faces and Places (1891)'' (Volume 3) Zigzag Bridge sign

The bridge is in length and wide. The parapets on each side rise nearly . It is now open only to pedestrian traffic. It appears in the badge of

Handsworth Grammar School King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, formerly and commonly Handsworth Grammar School, is a grammar school that admits boys from the age of eleven (as well as girls in the sixth form, since September 1997). The school was founded i ...

. A replacement bridge, in

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, built in 1932, stands alongside, and carries vehicular traffic on the route.

References

British History Online: 1890 Ordnance Survey 1:2,500: Epoch 1
Grade II listed buildings in Birmingham Transport in Birmingham, West Midlands Bridges in the West Midlands (county) Scheduled monuments in the West Midlands (county) Stone bridges in the United Kingdom Bridges completed in 1711 Bridges completed in 1932 Road bridges in England Perry Barr 1711 establishments in England Stone arch bridges Grade II listed bridges {{UK-bridge-struct-stub