The Gallox Bridge in

Dunster Dunster is a village that is home to Celtu and civil parish in Somerset, England, within the north-eastern boundary of Exmoor National Park. It lies on the Bristol Channel southeast of Minehead and northwest of Taunton. At the 2011 Census, ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England dates from the 15th century. It has been designated as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and

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, visu ...

. The bridge is in the guardianship of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. The stone

packhorse bridge A packhorse bridge is a bridge intended to carry packhorses (horses loaded with sidebags or panniers) across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow (one horse wide) masonry arches, and has low Parapet#Bridg ...

crosses the

River Avill The River Avill is a small river on Exmoor in Somerset, England. It rises on the eastern slopes of Dunkery Beacon and flows north through Timberscombe and Dunster flowing into the Bristol Channel at Dunster Beach. It runs South-West of Mineh ...

at the southern end of the village, below

Dunster Castle Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a English country house, country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo ...

at a point which may have been the limit of tidal flow during the medieval period. It was important for the transport of wool and other goods to the market within the village which was established by 1222. The name is derived from the nearby

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

. The narrow bridge is approach via a raised causeway for pedestrians, while wheeled traffic uses the adjacent ford.

History

The bridge crosses the

which rises on the eastern slopes of

Dunkery Beacon Dunkery Beacon at the summit of Dunkery Hill is the highest point on Exmoor and in Somerset, England. It is also the highest point in southern England outside of Dartmoor. The sandstone hill rises to and provides views over the surrounding mo ...

and flows north through Timberscombe and

flowing into the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...

at Dunster Beach. It is likely that there was a previous bridge on the same site as in the 14th century it was known as Doddebrigge. The bridge may have been at the limit of the tidal mouth of the river during the medieval period. Dunster Beach, which includes the mouth of the River Avill, is now located approximately from the village, and used to have a significant harbour, known as Dunster Haven, which was used for the export of wool from

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

times; however, it was last used in the 17th century and has now disappeared among the dykes, meadows and marshes near the shore. Dunster had become a centre for woollen and clothing production by the 13th century, with the market dating back to at least 1222, and a particular kind of kersey or broadcloth became known as 'Dunsters'. The prosperity of Dunster was based on the wool trade, with profits helping to pay for the construction of the tower of the Priory Church of St George and provide other amenities. The name Gallox is believed to be derived from gallows as the village

were nearby, when it was called Gallocksbrigge. The bridge is close to Dunster Working Watermill and the base of the hill on which

sits and provides access to the site of the Deer park. It also falls within the Dunster

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

. It has been in the guardianship of

since the 1950s.

Architecture

It is a narrow stone

, on the southern outskirts of Dunster, with two

arches An arch is a curved vertical structure span (engineering), spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th mill ...

over the River Avill. It has a roadway width of , a total width of and is long. The side of the bridge each have four narrow

chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

ed ribs. The approach from the village is via a raised causeway.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Gallox Bridge
History of Dunster Gallox Bridge: English Heritage
Bridges completed in the 15th century Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset Scheduled monuments in West Somerset Bridges in Somerset English Heritage sites in Somerset Grade I listed bridges Packhorse bridges

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links