Eaton or Hucke Bridge

Hucke Bridge seems to have been built around 1587, as there is a Court Leet reference of this date for ‘Suger as was bestowed on Mr. Pinches when we did aske his advice for the makeinge of Hucke Bridge as Richard Poule toke on him to doe….. ij.S iij.d.’

So we probably have a date, builder and designer for this fine bridge. And the ‘design cost’.

The bridge also shows on the Ogilby strip map of 1675 in his ‘Britannia’. It is described as ‘Stone bridge 3 arches & River Lug’.

The Royal Commission drawing of Eaton Bridge is a typically elegant record, showing the cutwaters north and south, the north now hidden by widening, and access to the water on the east bank. The Commission says the bridge ‘was built probably in the 16^th century’, and the present Listing record (Grade II) says ‘Bridge, C16, altered C18. Dressed and rubble sandstone. 3 arches; pointed cutwaters with refuges over; ashlar-coped parapet’.

The centre arch raised for navigation and the outer one ribbed. Sometime in the 20^th century it was widened upstream by about five feet, the upstream recesses being added at the same time. The bridge was reinforced around 1987 with an infill of concrete.

There was an attempt to make the Lugg navigable. The middle arch of the bridge is wider to accommodate boats. In 1714 a sum of £1,200 was raised and £900 paid to a Mr Chinn who, instead of building locks at proper places, put up gates where bridges crossed the river. He built a wharf and basin here at Eaton Bridge and barges conveyed goods to and from the town.