MAGDALENE BRIDGE 1823 Cambridge HEW1340 TL447 589 N51o 48' 17.1" W0o 3' 24"
This has been a succession of bridges over the River Cam on this site beginning with the wooden Roman one. Arthur Browne designed and built this cast iron replacement for the previous 1754 stone bridge. Benjamin Bevan who had worked on the Wolverton Aqueduct and perhaps the Tickford Bridge was the engineer. Browne disdained the open spandrel concept of other contemporary iron bridges and chose instead a gothic revival decoration on solid iron panels. The eight cast iron ribs are incased in a “box” of solid panels which was filled with dirt and on which in turn the road bed rests. This extra weight eventually led to an unacceptable sag and the dirt was removed to allow the internal insertion of a steel framework in 1982.