MSO8541 - Medieval packhorse bridge near Vicarage Bridge, Winsford (Building)

Packhorse bridge at Winsford, 17th Century with two segmental arches and a roadway width of 3 feet 6 inches. [1] The packhorse bridge is at SS 9057 3516. [2,12] Packhorse bridge close to Vicarage Bridge (MSO8542) at Winsford. It has two semicircular arches with a total span of about 30 feet.The width between the parapets is 3 feet 6 inches. This may be the bridge referred to as having been recently "re-edificed" in the Quarter Sessions of 1628. [3] (SS 9057 3516) Winsford Packhorse Bridge. Scheduled. [4,5] Packhorse Bridge (over river Exe). Listed Grade 2*. Picturesque narrow stone bridge with footway about 3 feet 6 inches wide with cobbles and stone parapets. It was restored following 1952 flood damage. Two semicircular head arches. Ancient Monument. [6] The narrow bridge across the Exe at SS 9057 3516, some 40 metres west of the main bridge (Vicarage Bridge), is as described. Nonetheless, even allowing for some alteration in 1952, it is rather ornamental in appearance being built of coursed till-like stones. Also it is rather narrow for a packhorse bridge, and its parapets at 0.9 metres is rather high. More probably a footbridge than a packhorse bridge. [7,13-18] Medieval in origin, restored 1952. Flat bedded slate. Parapet ramped up to centre, pebble path between. Scheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset County No 38). (Photograph in NMR). [8] Wrongly plotted by HBMC. Lies just upstream from the Vicarage Bridge (MSO8542). [9] Stone built with two semi-circular arches and a small low pointed cutwater on the upstream side. The bridge 14.5 metres long and 1metre wide between parapets. The north end foundations have been rather exposed and a little undermined by obvious recent flooding. [10] Scheduling affirmed with new national number on 11 August 2003 (was Somerset 38). [11] The Scheduled Monument Condition Assessment of 2009 gave the site a survival score of 9. [19] The bridge suffered damage in December 2012 due to the floods and emergency repairs were undertaken in January 2013. [20] The building was visited in March 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. It received a BAR score of 6. [21] The site was surveyed in March 2015 as part of the 2015 Exmoor Scheduled Monument Condition Assessment. It was given a survival score of 9. [22] The packhorse bridge crossing the River Exe, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, is medieval in origin and has a two-arch span with random-rubble voussoirs and small cut water on upstream side. It is mainly built of flat-bedded slate, vertically aligned as coping and was restored in 1952. [23] The packhorse bridge by the Old Vicarage was badly damaged by the Lynmouth Flood on 15th August 1952. [24] The Winsford Archive includes an image of the bridge taken in 1920. [25] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [26] The bridge is mentioned in a publication on the industrial archaeology of Somerset. [27] Winsford was designated as a conservation area in 2023. The new appraisal was produced as part of the adoption of the conservation area. [28] The bridge was assessed as part of the 2018-2019 rapid condition assessment of listed buildings. It was assigned a BAR score of 4A, and extensive ivy and bracken growth was noted. [29]