Rotherbridge is a small, rural community situated approximately south-west of
Petworth
Petworth is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex ...
in
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, England. Until 1800, the road from
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
to
Petworth
Petworth is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex ...
crossed the
River Rother by a bridge here; the river acquired its present name from the bridge. Rotherbridge also gave its name to the
Hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
of Rotherbridge which comprised several of the surrounding villages, as well as the town of Petworth.
Etymology
The name "Rotherbridge" is derived from the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
''Redrebruge'', meaning "cattle bridge", or "cattle way".
The original
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
name was "hrÿdõer brycge", meaning "bridge over which cattle are driven". By 1280, the name had become "Rutherbrig", taking its present form in 1550.
The name "Rother" for the river is a back formation from "Rotherbidge". Before this the river was known as the "Scir", a Saxon word meaning "bright" or "clear".
The Hundred of Rotherbridge
Rotherbridge was also the name of the
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
Hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
or administrative group of parishes. In the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
, the Hundred of Rotherbridge comprised the settlements of
Sutton
Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to:
Places
United Kingdom
England
In alphabetical order by county:
* Sutton, Bedfordshire
* Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location
* S ...
,
Petworth
Petworth is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex ...
,
Duncton
Duncton is a village and civil parish in the Chichester (district), District of Chichester in West Sussex, England. The village is in the South Downs south of Petworth on the A285 road.
The civil parish is about long north – south and less t ...
,
Barlavington,
Lavington, Burton, Glatting and
Stopham
Stopham is a hamlet and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England, about west of Pulborough on the A283 road. It is in the civil parish of Fittleworth.
The parish has a land area of . The 2001 Census recorded 87 peo ...
, a total of 194 households. Rotherbridge was the meeting place for the families from the hundred although this later moved to the town of Petworth.
In 1872,
John Marius Wilson
John Marius Wilson (c. 1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteers. The ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (published 1870–72), was a substantial topographical dictionary in six volumes. It was a c ...
, in ''The
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
The ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' is a substantial topographical dictionary first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales. Its six volumes h ...
'' described the Hundred of Rotherbridge as "a hundred in Arundel rape, Sussex, containing Barlavington parish and 11 other parishes. Acres: 40,212. Population in 1851: 9,529. Houses: 1,687."
The bridge over the River Rother
In the late 14th century, a double-arched stone bridge was built across the River Rother by Parson Acon of Petworth. In 1540,
John Leland, the antiquary, visited the Rother bridge and wrote that it was "a fayre Bridge of Stone made by one, Parson Acon, who builded the Spire of the faire steeple there in the towne" (of Petworth).
![Geograph 2538768 New bridleway bridge over the River Rother by Rotherbridge Farm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Geograph_2538768_New_bridleway_bridge_over_the_River_Rother_by_Rotherbridge_Farm.jpg)
Until 1800, the
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
from
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
to Petworth descended
Duncton
Duncton is a village and civil parish in the Chichester (district), District of Chichester in West Sussex, England. The village is in the South Downs south of Petworth on the A285 road.
The civil parish is about long north – south and less t ...
Hill before crossing the River Rother at Rotherbridge. From there, travellers could proceed towards Petworth via Rotherbridge Lane or due north to
Tillington via Hungers Lane. The Petworth Turnpike Trustees, including
the Third Earl of Egremont, suspected that William Warren, the miller at
Coultershaw (half a mile south-east) was allowing his "friends" to cross the river by using the mill bridge, thus avoiding the toll for use of the turnpike. By Act of Parliament in 1800, Lord Egremont paid for the construction of a new bridge at Coultershaw Mill and the re-routing of the turnpike direct from there to Petworth. As a result, the former twin-arched bridge was pulled down and the stone was used to build the new bridge at Coultershaw with a toll-house on the west bank of the river.
Following the demolition of the bridge, this was replaced by a floating footbridge to connect the farm at Rotherbridge with that at Kilsham (Kelsham) on the south bank. The bridge was chained to the south (left) bank and could be passed by boat by lifting this at one end.
Following the abandonment of the
Rother Navigation
The River Rother flows from Empshott in Hampshire, England, to Stopham in West Sussex, where it joins the River Arun. At long, most of the river lies within West Sussex except for the first which lie in Hampshire. The upper river, from it ...
, the bridge was replaced with a wooden footbridge, and then by a fixed suspension bridge in 1935 and by an iron bridge with tubular railings in 1961. This in turn was replaced in 2010.
References
Bibliography
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*
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External links
Pictures of the bridge at Rotherbridge
{{authority control
Villages in West Sussex
Bridges in West Sussex
Former toll bridges in England