English Bridge

The English Bridge is a masonry arch viaduct, crossing the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

The present bridge is a 1926 rebuilding and widening (re-using the original masonry) of John Gwynn's design, completed in 1774.

Building work on Gwynn's replacement bridge started on 29 June 1769, and comprised seven semicircular arches, 400 feet (120 m) long.

The 55-foot (17 m) span central arch was built high, to provide headroom to watercraft, but this resulted in steep approaches.

Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, dating from 1815 and connecting London to the main sea-crossing to Ireland, used the English Bridge to cross the Severn here.

The English Bridge, with water levels at the Summer low.