Paradise Bridge

Paradise Bridge, on the footpath from the Priory Bridge to the Poplands, single arch, brick with iron railings. It now crosses a dry ditch as the water from the River Lugg along Mill Street was diverted in about 1968.

Rev. Blacklock describes the scene here as ‘the pretty walk which runs from the Priory Bridge along the willow-planted bank of the Kenwater ..to the Poplands.’ (the timber framed building on Mill Street.) He says ‘this walk has for many centuries been called Paradise, which name may possibly have been given to it by Pilgrims to the old Minster, or possibly by the Monks themselves.’

The name ‘Paradise’ can mean ‘The place beyond’ and so may just refer to the land across the river.

Another source says ‘Middle English from Old French from eccl. Latin from Greek(!) = royal (enclosed) park.

We also know that the word ‘Paradise’ was used on parts of a plan of an idealised monastery church as far back as AD 817 – the ‘S^t Gall’ plan. Mick Aston, ‘Monasteries in the Landscape’, Tempus 2000.