Gunnislake Newbridge
Bridge in Cornwall and Devon, England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gunnislake Newbridge or New Bridge is a large stone arch bridge crossing the River Tamar between Gunnislake, Cornwall and Gulworthy, Devon.[1]
History
It was commissioned by local landowner Piers Edgecumbe and built around 1520 out of granite; some reconstruction took place around 1773.[2][3] It has six arches.[1][4] Engineering historian Bill Harvey interpreted the name as referring to the current structure having replaced an earlier one on the same site apart from one surviving pointed arch;[5][6] another possibility is that the name refers to it being built later than two medieval bridges upriver which are slightly less than a century older, Horsebridge and Greystone Bridge.[7] The Battle of Gunnislake New Bridge took place around it in 1644.[8][9] It is currently grade I listed.[10] An eighteenth-century toll house is located on the Devon side and is listed grade II separately.[11]
Current use
The bridge continues to be used for road traffic and currently carries the A390 road.[12][13][14][15][16] The crossing was formerly a relatively major route for road traffic into Cornwall bypassing Plymouth, as it was the lowest road bridge across the Tamar until the Tamar Bridge opened in the 1960s.[3][17][18][19][20][21] Steel plates were added to the upstream cutwaters to shield from debris in 2024.[22]
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