From its opening a toll was payable but this ceased in 1946 when the County Councils of Berkshire and Oxfordshire joined to buy the bridge from its private owners.

The reach at Clifton Hampden was rocky and shallow, with water levels often dropping to barely 2 feet (0.61 m)[3] so it was usually fordable by cattle and horses.

The Mayoral barge grounded on the rocky outcrops in the shallows at Clifton Ferry and was stuck for several hours whilst the weirs further upstream were opened to raise the water level.

[5] The driving force behind the building of the bridge was Henry Hucks Gibbs, a banker, businessman and Governor of the Bank of England.

Gibbs inherited the Lord of the Manor of Clifton Hampden on the death of his father in 1842 and devoted time and money to modernising the estate.

He built new estate cottages, a new manor house, renovated and restored the Church of St Michael and All Angels as well as building the bridge.