Old Exe Bridge
Ruins · United Kingdom
- Abandoned
- unknown
- Founded
- —
- Population
- —
- Coordinates
- 50.719, -3.536
Why it was abandoned
🏛️ Ancient ruins
Detected automatically from the text: ruined medieval bridge in Exeter, Devon, England
History
The Old Exe Bridge is a ruined medieval bridge in Exeter in south-western England. Construction of the bridge began in 1190, and was completed by 1214. The bridge is the oldest surviving bridge of its size in England and the oldest bridge in Britain with a chapel still on it. It replaced several rudimentary crossings which had been in use sporadically since Roman times. The project was the idea of Nicholas and Walter Gervase, father and son and influential local merchants, who travelled the country to raise funds. No known records survive of the bridge's builders. The result was a bridge at least 590 feet long, which probably had 17 or 18 arches, carrying the road diagonally from the west gate of the city wall across the River Exe and its wide, marshy flood plain.