Monument record BCC 022 - Beccles Bridge (Med)

Summer 1994: TM 4207 9108. Two groups of piles, 7-8 feet apart, identified on River Waveney just N of Beccles Bridge (on Norfolk side of river). `Each group consists of 3 closely set piles, rectangular in section, circa 3.5 inches x 10 inches, thereby forming a near-square circa 10.5 inches x 10 inches. A wooden bridge is said to have been built here in 1296' (S1). Note road link to N/W (in Norfolk) very low lying and wet - presumably site of contemporary causeway.
A bridge evidently existed at Beccles in the C13, as mention of one was made in a grant of `Free Fishing' obtained by the Abbot of Bury in the year 1268. There is also record of the rebuilding of a bridge in the middle of the C15, several legacies having been left for this purpose. In one case money was left to the chapel on the `Great Bridge of Beccles', which was dedicated to "The Blessed Virgin Mary" (see BCC 009).
Bridge shown on Saxton's 1575. Speede's 1610 amd Bowen's 1755 maps (S3)(S4)(S5). Bowen's map shows bridge in same location as 1972 OS map. On 1575 and 1610 maps, location is unclear.
See also PMed.
Also on Ogilby's Map, 1675, at the 208 miles from London Milepost.