Four Old Bridges

/Anstey's packhorse bridge is 54ft long in five arches and 5ft wide between the parapets. Spanning the Rothley Brook, the date of building is sometime earlier than the 18th century. Nearby, on Sheepwash Lane,  is the listed King Williams Bridge, which you can find out about at Leicester City Council's site:

http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/ep/planning/designandconservation/scheduledmonuments/scheduledmonumentslist/king-williams-bridge/

At a point where the River Soar meets the Grand Union canal, Aylestone has a packhorse bridge, probably from the 15th century. This provided a route for horses carrying coal from Swannington, and a bridge was also built at Enderby for this purpose. The Aylestone bridge is a Grade II star Listed Building and there is more information at Leicester City Council's site:

http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/ep/planning/designandconservation/scheduledmonuments/scheduledmonumentslist/aylestone-bridge/

Spanning the Medbourne Brook, the medieval footbridge at Medbourne has four arches, triangular 'cutwaters', and is 5ft in width. The plaque (9) states that the bridge '...is thought to date from the 13th century' and that, 'The brick paving is of more recent date as are the wooden handrails which probably replaced the bridge's original parapet walls'.

The original wooden bridge at Rearsby, which would have been medieval, was replaced in 1714 by the one we can see today. It stands by a ford over the Rearsby brook and legend has it that it took six men nine days to complete it at a total cost of £11 2s 2d. Rearsby has an excellent village website (from which I took the above information) with many pictures:

http://www.rearsby.net/

This website is part of the East Midlands Oral History Archive and has been compiled by Colin Hyde. Any comments can be sent to him via the 'Contact us' button at the bottom of the page. Last updated 22/02/2010.