Newbridge, Wolverhampton
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Newbridge is a suburb of the city of Wolverhampton, West Midlands in England. It is situated north-west of the city centre, on the A41 Tettenhall Road.
The earliest known mention of the area came in 1286 as Novo Ponte[1] - Latin for New Bridge. The name indicates a yet earlier bridge at this location. The bridge took the London-Holyhead road (the modern-day Meadow View) over the river Smestow and later, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal. On Yates's map of 1775, the name can be seen as two words, New Bridge,[2] though the contracted form was in use by 1332 - (atte) newebruge.[3]
History
In the early 19th century the London-Holyhead road was realigned to cross the valley on an embankment over the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal of 1771 and the river Smestow ran through the suburb in a SW-NE direction.[4] The 19th-century canal bridge had to be replaced by a more modern structure, capable of carrying increased traffic, built by Wolverhampton's County Borough council in the 1930s.