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Road bridge over River Tone. C15, restored 1698, and late C19. Random rubble local stone, ashlar dressings, 2-arch span, 4-centred arches chamfered in 2 orders, soffits partly renewed in brick, central cutwater, string course, renewed parapet with chamfered coping. Said to bear date 1698 on parapet but not visible at time of survey (January 1985). Sheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset County No 104). (Photograph in NMR; Mathews, Bradford and its History, 1925). English Heritage Listed Building Number: 270946. First Listed on 25/01/1956.¹

In 1617 the inhabitants of Bradford parish were liable to repair at least seven timber bridges and five stone bridges, including two major bridges over the Tone – one near the village and another 3 miles away at Hele, both of which were probably built in the 15th century. Bradford Bridge became a County Bridge before 1667. The Justices of the Peace also took responsibility for repairing 100 yards of each approach road, as was stipulated in the Bridges Act of 1530. On each approach to every Somerset County Bridge there was set up a stone inscribed “CBB”, which marked the “County Bridge Boundary”. By 1860 there were over 150 County Bridges, but only a handful of the boundary stones still survive, one of which stands on the west side of the entrance to the White
Horse Inn car park at Bradford.3

Aqueduct carrying the Grand Western Canal (PRN 44126) over the River Tone The stone work of the wide, graceful arch of this slender 30ft span structure is in good condition and, although the parapet is crumbling, it can still be crossed, when the iron trough which contained the water will be seen. The aqueduct is skewed to avoid scour of the abutments and wing walls. The skewed horizontal iron waterway trough spans a little over 9m between the abutments and was made in the form of a flat arch in three sections with splayed joints similar to stone voussoirs. It is restrained in a longitudinal direction by inclined iron brackets at the junction of the three sections of the trough. The brackets protrude into the masonry at each side.¹

The parish of Nynehead was for many years responsible for the repair of the bridge; the churchwarden’s accounts of this exist from C16. The maintenance was taken over by the new Milverton Highways Board in the 1860s. In 1876 a notice was erected at the approaches stating ‘This bridge is only of sufficient strength to bear the weight of ordinary traffic. Persons causing steam locomotives and traction engines to pass over it will be held responsible for any damage done thereby’

The present bridge was built in 1912. When the old bridge was demolished it was found to be supported by oak piles. Reinforced concrete arch bridge built in 1912 and designed by Edward Stead, when he was Assistant County Surveyor. Copings, stringcourses and quoins are of ashlar masonry with the remainder of the masonry rock faced. The end of the concrete deck is exposed in elevation. The bridge is 26 feet in span.¹

In 1594 an old stone bridge that carried the West Buckland to Nynehead road over the Tone was known as Langhams or Longham Bridge, and later as Hornes Hay Bridge. An ancient legal responsibility made Nynehead parish liable to repair the northern half of the bridge, Wellington parish two-thirds of the southern half of the bridge, and West Buckland parish the remainder. The liabilities were in force until the 1860s, when responsibility passed to the Milverton Highway Board and then to the County of Somerset. It was rebuilt in 1912 as a reinforced concrete arch bridge, and was one of the earliest of over 60 concrete bridges that were constructed in Somerset between 1909 and 1930 to the design of Edward Stead, who retired as County Surveyor in 1946..3