Bridges of Hungerford

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There are many bridges to be found in the heart of Hungerford. These include:

Bridges over rivers and streams:

- Bridge Street river bridges (built 1740)

- Dun Mill River Kennet Bridge (built c.1798)

- Denford Mill River Kennet Bridge

- Eddington Bridge (carrying the A4 over the river Kennet) (1827)

- Hidden Bridge and Little Hidden Bridge (over Harvey's Stream, Eddington)

- Jessats (sic!) Bridge, Eddington

- Marsh Lane Railway Bridge over the River Shalbourne (also known as "Nonsuch Palace Bridge")

- The Dun Aqueduct - carrying the Kennet and Avon canal over the river Dun near Cobbler's Lock (built c.1799)

- Walton Cottage ornamental bridge, Eddington (built ?c.1912)

- Smitham Bridge - over the River Shalbourne

- Smitham Bridge Playpark Bridge (built 1985)

- Bridges on Hungerford Mars (Stocken Street)

- Bridges of Hopgrass

- Wink Walter's bridge on Freeman's Marsh (built 1981)

Bridges over the canal:

- High Street Canal Bridge (built 1798)

- Ornamental bridge at 1 High Street (date of building unknown, ?c.1800)

- Ornamental bridge at 131 High Street (built c.1800)

- Station Road Swing Bridge (built 1798)

- Church Swing Bridge (near St. Lawrence's Church) (built c.1799)

- Marsh Lock Swing Bridge (built c.1799)

- Pedestrian bridge at Cobbler's Lock (built c.1799)

- Barrack Field footbridge (built 1998)

- Dun Mill Canal Bridge (built c.1798)

- Jubilee Footbridge (built 2012)

Bridges over or under the railway:

- Hungerford station platform bridge

- Beard's Lane Bridge (also known as Smitham Bridge House Bridge), (built 1862)

- High Street Railway Bridge (including information on the three railway bridges, built 1862, 1898 and 1966)

- Croft Road and Parsonage Lane Railway Bridges (built 1862)

- Marsh Road (Lane) Railway Bridge over the road (built 1862)

- Freeman's Marsh Railway Bridge (built 1862)

- Old Spring Bridge on Pennyquicks (built 1862)

- Rennie (Picketfield) Railway Bridge (built 1862)

- Dun Mill Railway Bridge (built c.1896)

- The Cow Bridge between Common Port Down and Lower Common (built c.1847) 

Some of the research into these bridges has been carried out by Dr Jimmy Whittaker, who has kindly provided several articles on which much of these pages are based.

So how do bridges get their names?

He says: "A bridge name would generally be linked either to a street/road name, town/village, landowner or a physical landmark to easily identify the structure.

I wrote once again to Robin Mann at West Berkshire Council who had helped me on several occasions with refence to Hungerford street names and suggested that I write to Michael De-Honri, a senior engineer in the Environmental Department at West Berkshire Council that deals with highway structures who may be able to shed some light on the names on bridges found in Hungerford. Michael kindly sent me a copy of the official West Berks Council map used to identify bridges on public highways in Hungerford."