You are in [Places] [Bridges of Hungerford] [Jessats (sic!) Bridge, Eddington]
[This article is based on text by Dr. Jimmy Whittaker, June 2022].
Jessats Bridge is one of the bridges marked on the West Berkshire Council map of bridges in Hungerford.
It is the name given to the bridge in Oxford Street, Eddington just off the A4 which runs over Harvey's stream which then runs beneath the Total Garage on the A4. This is clearly a wrong spelling since there were Jessets living in Hungerford for many years.
This bridge is named after the Jessett family who lived at No 1 Oxford Street for many years and ran and owned the bakery. This would have been the closest property to this bridge.
In 1844 the premises were described as a grocery store owned by Francis Jessett and in 1869 it became Eddington Post Office, run by Jane Jessett.
There are several photographs on the pages of the Hungerford Virtual Museum website taken around 1910-1920 which show the remnants of a bridge wall probably built to prevent people falling into Harvey's stream and the adjacent Bakery and Post Office (which has a Victorian wall box to this day).
In 1992 West Berks Council fitted a bridge trash screen to this bridge to prevent flooding in Oxford Street, Kennet Court and the A4 garage forecourt brought about by the accumulation of debris from Harvey’s stream. A trash screen is a grill fitted to the side of a bridge to catch debris.
Berkshire County Council and Parish Councils were the original maintaining authorities responsible for building, maintaining, and recording structures supporting the public highway. They gave each structure a unique number issued sequentially and also a bridge name which would generally be linked either to the street/road name, town/village, landowner or a physical landmark to easily identify the structure.
Today the bridge carries Oxford Street over Harvey's stream. The stream is visible on the eastern side before it passes under A4 Tool Hire (latterly the garage forecourt).
According to Pigott’s Directory of 1844, these premises were occupied by the Jessett family’s grocery shop.
When Francis Jesset died in 1841, the family grocery business was passed on to his son, George who continued to run the shop until his death in 1870 when his wife Jane took over.
When Jane died in 1895, her son Frederick ran the shop. It seems probable that around this time, the bakery business grew, occupying a large bakery behind the family home. A few years later, the town’s first sub-post office was opened on these premises on 10 April 1899 under a postmistress, Miss Mary Brothers, who ran it until she died in 1908.
The Canal Wharf, 2011