Old Swan Bridge, Pulborough

Before the construction of a bridge, a ferry was known to cross the Arun at Pulboorough. Documentary evidence suggests the ferry existed earlier than 1350. The ferry was replaced by a succession of timber bridges, the last of which was a short distance downstream from the site of the present bridge.^[2][3]

Swan Bridge was built in 1787 in a medieval style. It originally had three arches of ashlar construction. The fourth arch was added in 1834. The arches are all round-headed, supported by buttressed piers which rise from blunt cutwaters (starlings) and terminate below the parapet level. The parapets are in rounded, coped stone.^[1]

The bridge carried the main route from Horsham to Arundel (the A29 road) until it was bypassed by a single-arch bridge immediately upstream.^[4] It is a Grade II listed building and a scheduled monument.^[1]

• Stopham Bridge, just upstream
• Scheduled monuments in West Sussex