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Glasgow, Stockwell Street, Stockwell Bridge
Road Bridge (14th Century)
Site Name Glasgow, Stockwell Street, Stockwell Bridge
Classification Road Bridge (14th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Upper Harbour; River Clyde; Glasgow Bridge; Old Glasgow Bridge; Bishop Rae's Bridge; Old Stockwell Bridge; The Bridge Ford
Canmore ID 162486
Site Number NS56SE 458
NGR NS 5916 6457
NGR Description NS c. 5916 6457
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/162486
- Council Glasgow, City Of
- Parish Glasgow (City Of Glasgow)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District City Of Glasgow
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS56SE 458 c. 5916 6457
For (successor and present) Victoria Bridge, see NS56SE 24.
For re-use of timbers from this bridge, see NS66SW 901.
(NS 5917 6456) Victoria Bridge (NAT)
on site of Stockwell Bridge (NR)
OS 25" map, (1954)
The original timber bridge having gone into decay about 1340, Bishop Rae built a stone bridge at Stockwell Street in 1345. The bridge was originally 12' [3.7m] wide, and consisted of eight arches. In 1777 it was widened by 10' [3m] and the two northmost arches built up. In 1835, the bridge was 415' [126.6m] long and 34' [10.4m] wide (NSA 1845). It was replaced by Victoria Bridge, built about 1855 (ONB 1858).
NSA 1845; Name Book 1858.
Victoria Bridge (NS56SE 24) replaced the medieval bridge of Glasgow (otherwise Stockwell Bridge), which was partly rebult in 1671, nearly ruinous by 1758, strangthened and widened in 1774-8, and widened again in 1821 by the novel device of cast iron footway arches spanning between the protruding cutwaters.
E Williamson, A Riches and M Higgs 1990.
(Name cited as Glasgow Bridge). This stone bridge was erected (on the initiative of Bishop Rae) about 1350. It was sufficiently strong to remain in use for over 400 years, contributing greatly to the expansion of trade by opening up routes to the S. However, the restricted width of the bridge meant that the river continued to be crossed by fording.
J Riddell 2000.
This bridge formerly carried a public road across the River Clyde at the SE (upstream) end of the Upper Harbour, and thus formed the upper limit of navigation by ships. The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Glasgow (to the N) and Govan (to the S).
The location assigned to this record is derived from that cited for the present bridge (NS56SE 24).
This bridge is not noted by J R Hume (1974).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 15 December 2005.
NMRS REFERENCE:
Glasgow, Stockwell Bridge, Old Glasgow Bridge, Bishop Rae's Bridge, Old Stockwell Bridge.
Bishop William Rae (d. 1367) ordered the building of Old Glasgow Bridge (Bishop Rae's Bridge/Stockwell Bridge) in 1345-1350. The bridge was removed in 1851 and replaced by the Victoria Bridge.
EXTERNAL REFERENCE:
Stockwell Bridge
The Mitchell Library, Glasgow.
Glasgow in Former Times I - 2 Engravings
Glasgow in Former Times II - pencil and wash
- 2 pencil being demolished May 1850
Swan's "Views of Glasgow" - 1 Engraving
Old Stockwell Bridge
Erected by Bishop Rae in 1345
The Mitchell Library, Glasgow.
Glasgow in Former Times I p.102 - Lithograph 1846
Glasgow in Former Times II - Engraving 1850
T.Fairburn Relics of Anc. Arch. No. 19 - Drawing
