Bow Bridge Past Effectual Repair (1911)

Post date: Jul 12, 2011 2:55:22 PM

Maidstone Rural District Council's engineer, Rowland H. Halls, described Bow Bridge in 1911 as follows:

"The existing bridge is an old wooden structure supported by eleven timber piles driven into the bed of the river with a brick abutment at the South end. Many of these piles and also the cross pieces and beams are in a much weakened condition from decay and totally inadequate to carry any of the heavy traffic of the neighbourhood, and the piles driven into the bed of the river are at all times liable to collision with barges. The carriageway is only 10 feet in width and is in a very bad condition and the fences also are rotten. I should not consider it safe to take a load of more than 2 tons on one axle over the bridge in its present state, and it is quite possible that with the process of decay continuing it will be impassable to wheel traffic of any kind. The present bridge is past effectual repair owing to the main supporting timbers being in need of renewal. The traffic over the bridge is considerable and as heavy motor wagons and similar vehicles are now very numerous in all parts of the Country, it is highly necessary in the interests of the safety of the general public that a bridge of substantial strength and durability should take the place of the present flimsy and dangerous structure."

It was believed that the bridge described had been built about 1740 in the reign of George II (1727-1760) when the Upper Medway Navigation Company obtained powers to deepen the the channel of the river and make it navigable and for a century afterwards the Navigation Company kept it in repair. Apparently the level of the bridge was raised to enable the railway to cross the road leading to the bridge and the railway agreed to upkeep the northern portion of the bridge.

In 1868 the Kentish Gazette of 30th June, reported on the Kent General sessions held at Maidstone with Lord Romney in the Chair as follows:

A letter was read from the Malling Highway Board, asking the county to contribute towards the erection of a new bridge in place of the present wooden bridge called Wateringbury Bow Bridge. The Chairman remarked that the county could have nothing to do with it. It was a question for the South Eastern Railway and Medway Companies.

However, the Navigation Company got into financial difficulties and was unable to repair its section, so that in 1901 Maidstone Rural District Council intervened obtaining an order that the bridge should become a Parish Highway repairable by the District Council.

The report quoted is held at the Rochester Bridge Trust archives.