Somerset Rivers
River Parrett Structures

Great Bow Bridge – Langport

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Bridge Name:   Great Bow Bridge – Langport
No.:   30
Location:    
Build Date:   Circa 1840
Engineer:   William Gravatt Engineer – Edwin Down of Bridgwater Contractor
     
       
 

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Description:    
Possible that the crossing of the Parrett at this point was used in Roman times and that the construction of the causeway across the marshes may have preceded permanent settlement.

The bridge was first mentioned in 1220 and connected Langport with the suburb of Westover.

Road bridge over River Parrett. Completed 1841. Local lias stone ashlar. Three wide elliptical arches with impost courses, and keystones to arches, band course over, then plain parapet, which is extended at each end into long wing walls centre of bridge gently humped. Bridge first mentioned in 1220, it was last rebuilt by the Parrett Navigation Company, assisted by the corporation. (VCH Vol III, 1974).1English Heritage Listed Building Number: 263143. First Listed on 17/04/1959.

Three semi-elliptical arch construction road bridge, built with Lias lime stone. Built by Parrett Navigation Co. Replaced a medieval bridge described in 1616 as having ‘one and thirty bows’. or arches. Ground probing radar in 1987 found nineteen arches beneath Bow Street. Carries the A378.The bridge replaced nine spans of a medieval bridge built in 13132

Built for �4200 by Parrett Navigation Co.3
     
References:   1. Somerset HER Ref.51828
2. Civil Engineering Heritage by R.A.Otter

3. Somerset Roads the Legacy of the Turnpikes – Western Division – J B Bentley & B J Murless