WINNER : My Locality/Coates Area Gallery



On the river Arun near Pulborough, it was built in 1423 in place of an early fourteenth century wooden bridge. A large and solid structure, however during the Civil War one arch was destroyed which was replaced by a drawbridge until repairs restored the arch in the late 1600s. The central arch was raised in 1822 to allow the passage of higher barges. The bridge suffered much damage during WWII, when heavy army vehicles passed over it, and was further damaged by lorries in the following decades. It is only 12 ft wide, so often created a bottleneck on the road. A new bridge for traffic was finally built a few yards upstream in 1986, and pedestrians no longer have to retreat into the recesses over the piers to avoid vehicles.