Marlow Bridge

Marlow Bridge
Marlow Bridge, from All Saints church
Crosses	River Thames
Locale	Marlow
Designer	William Tierney Clark
Design	Suspension
Height	12 feet 8 inches (3.86 m)[1]
Longest span	235 feet (72 m)[2]
Opened	1832
Heritage status	Grade I listed structure

Marlow Bridge is a road traffic and foot bridge over the River Thames in England between the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire and the village of Bisham in Berkshire. It crosses the Thames just upstream of Marlow Lock, on the reach to Temple Lock.

There has been a bridge on the site since the reign of King Edward III which was stated in around 1530 to have been of timber. In 1642 this bridge was partly destroyed by the parliamentary army. In 1789 a new timber bridge was built by public subscription with a contribution from the Thames Navigation Commission to increase the headroom underneath.^[3]

The current suspension bridge was designed by William Tierney Clark and was built between 1829 and 1832, replacing a wooden bridge further downstream which collapsed in 1828.^[2] It is the only suspension bridge across the non-tidal Thames.^[4] The Széchenyi Chain Bridge, spanning the River Danube in Budapest, was also designed by William Clark and it is a larger scale version of Marlow bridge.

The bridge has a 3 tonne weight restriction and is used only by foot and local road traffic. Other traffic is carried by the Marlow By-pass Bridge.

See also

• Crossings of the River Thames

References

1. ^ River Thames Alliance. Bridge heights on the River Thames.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Marlow Suspension Bridge". http://www.marlowtown.co.uk/bridge.html. Retrieved 11 December 2008. 
3. ^ Fred S. Thacker The Thames Highway: Locks and Weirs David & Charles 1968
4. ^ Cove-Smith, Chris (2006). The River Thames Book. Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson. ISBN 0852888929. 

External links

• Marlow Suspension Bridge at Structurae

Next bridge upstream	River Thames	Next bridge downstream
Temple Footbridge (pedestrian)	Marlow Bridge Grid reference: SU851860	Marlow By-pass Bridge (road)

Coordinates: 51°34′01″N 0°46′23″W / 51.567°N 0.773°W / 51.567; -0.773