Chertsey Bridge is a road 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 ...

in England, connecting

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in the ...

to low-lying riverside meadows in

Laleham Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the Borough of Spelthorne, about west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames a ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. It is downstream from the M3 motorway bridge over the Thames and is close to

Chertsey Lock Chertsey Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, against the left bank, an area of Green Belt including Laleham Park, the largest public park in Spelthorne. It faces the town of Chertsey and is the fifth-lowest of the forty-four lock ...

on the reach above

Shepperton Lock Shepperton Lock is a lock on the River Thames, in England by the left bank at Shepperton, Surrey. It is across the river from Weybridge which is nearby linked by a passenger ferry. In 1813, the City of London Corporation built the pound lock ...

. The bridge is a seven-arch tied arch white stone bridge built 1783–85 and 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 ...

. It has a weight restriction of 18 tonnes for LGVs. The first bridge on the site was built some time after 1299 as in that year the king and his family were carried over the river by a ferry-woman called Sibille. The earliest written forebear to this bridge is that of 1530: a "goodly Bridg of Timber newly repaird". By 1580 it was dilapidated and the Crown, who had acquired responsibility from

Chertsey Abbey Chertsey Abbey, dedicated to St Peter, was a Benedictine monastery located at Chertsey in the English county of Surrey. It was founded in 666 AD by Saint Erkenwald who was the first abbot, and from 675 AD the Bishop of London. At the same time ...

, was trying to find someone on whom they could pin the bill for repairs. The documents record the dimensions as "210 feet in length and 15 feet in breadth". In 1632 the bridge, which was slanted upwards from Middlesex to Surrey, was described as like the work of a left-handed man. The slant was more annoying to navigation and passage was reported in 1774 to be very inconvenient and dangerous.Fred. S. Thacker ''The Thames Highway: Volume II Locks and Weirs'' 1920 - republished 1968 David & Charles The present stone bridge was first considered in 1780 and replacement of the old one began in 1783. There were 184 piles for the old bridge, which were cut off six feet below high-water mark, and the materials of the old bridge fetched £120 at auction in August 1784. The architect of the new bridge was James Paine and the surveyor was

Kenton Couse Kenton Couse (1 March 1721 – 10 October 1790) was an English architect. He was apprenticed to Henry Flitcroft whose patronage obtained him posts in the Office of Works. Couse subsequently became Secretary to the Board of Works from 1775 to 1782 ...

. It was built at a cost of £6813 4s 11d. In an early example of contract dispute, the contractor built the number of arches specified, but as they did not reach the shore, the counties had to pay, at extra expense, for linking the bridge to the banks. On the Middlesex bank, cows graze downstream in

Dumsey Meadow Dumsey Meadow is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Chertsey and Shepperton in Surrey. It is the only piece of undeveloped water meadow unfenced by the river remaining on the River Thames below Caversham. This unimproved ...

, a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

, and upstream is Laleham Park. On the Surrey bank are the outskirts of

with Abbey Chase house on the river bank. At the south east end of the bridge is a late-19th-century square cast-iron

coal-tax post Coal-tax posts are boundary marker posts found in southern England. They were erected in the 1860s and form an irregular loop between 12 and 18 miles from London to mark the points where taxes on coal were due to the Corporation of London. There ...

with cornice and capping, and the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

shield on one face. It is grade II listed.

In Film

It is the bridge over which

Rex Harrison Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play ''French Without Tears'', in what ...

drives his tank to his character's (Vivian Kenway's) death in the 1945 film,

The Rake's Progress (film) ''The Rake's Progress'' is a 1945 British comedy-drama film. In the United States, the title was changed to ''Notorious Gentleman''. The film caused controversy with U.S. censors of the time, who trimmed scenes for what was considered graphic am ...

References

External links

* {{Runnymede Bridges across the River Thames Bridges in Surrey Stone bridges in England Bridges completed in 1785 Grade II* listed buildings in Surrey Road bridges in England

In Film

See also

References

External links