Sonning Bridge is a road bridge across the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 at Sonning

Sonning

Sonning, occasionally called Sonning-on-Thames is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire, a few miles east of Reading. The village is situated on the River Thames and was described by Jerome K...

, Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

. It links Sonning with Sonning Eye

Sonning Eye

Sonning Eye is a hamlet on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, in the civil parish of Eye & Dunsden, at the very southernmost tip of Oxfordshire.- Overview :...

 (Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

) and crosses the Thames on the reach above Shiplake Lock

Shiplake Lock

Shiplake Lock is a lock and weir situated on the River Thames in England near the village of Shiplake, Oxfordshire. It is just above the points where the River Loddon joins the Thames and Shiplake Railway Bridge crosses the river...

, just short of Sonning Lock

Sonning Lock

Sonning Lock is a lock and associated weir situated on the River Thames at the village of Sonning near Reading, Berkshire, England. The first lock was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1773 and it has been rebuilt three times since then....

. It is a brick arch bridge

Arch bridge

An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side...

 completed in 1775, to replace an earlier wooden bridge. The bridge has been the subject of many paintings and prints by artists.

The road extends to the two Sonning Backwater Bridges

Sonning Backwater Bridges

Sonning Backwater Bridges are two road bridges across two branches of the River Thames at Sonning Eye, Oxfordshire, England. Built in 1986 to replace an older wooden structure, the bridges span Sonning Backwater and the millrace to link historic brick arch Sonning Bridge of 1775, which spans the...

. One is over the backwater downstream of the weir

Weir

A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...

 and the is other over the millrace which is between the two main branches.

The Thames Path

Thames Path

The Thames Path is a National Trail, opened in 1996, following the length of the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton. It is about long....

 crosses the river at this point.

History

The earliest definite reference to a "timber" bridge is around 1530, although there are claims that there was a wooden old Saxon bridge here before 1125. It was spoken of as being rebuilt in 1604, although throughout the 17th century there are reports of decay and the need for repair.

A stone marker at the centre of the bridge is marked "B | O" (for the counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire on each side of the river) with the vertical line indicating the exact boundary down the middle of the river. This is an ancient border which used to be between Wessex

Wessex

The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...

 and Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

.

The wooden backwater bridges were not replaced until the 20th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were complaints about the traction engine

Traction engine

A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...

s causing structural problems with the old wooden backwater bridges and disturbing the peace..

It is rumoured that Dick Turpin

Dick Turpin

Richard "Dick" Turpin was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's profession as a butcher early in life, but by the early 1730s he had joined a gang of deer thieves, and later became a poacher,...

 used the bridge as an escape route from Berkshire to Oxfordshire to evade the authorities.

Traffic

Sonning Bridge has traffic lights because it is too narrow for traffic in both directions simultaneously. It is the only road bridge across the Thames between Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...

 and Reading

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

. Thus there are large queues during the morning and evening rush hours. An additional bridge to relieve the traffic problems has been a subject of debate for many years, but nothing has been done to alleviate the problem and there are no current plans in this direction.

Adjacent buildings

Close to the bridge are the Great House

Great House at Sonning

The Great House at Sonning is a hotel and restaurant with a riverside garden on the River Thames near Sonning Bridge at Sonning, Berkshire, England...

, a hotel on the southern bank, the Mill at Sonning, now a theatre, on an island between two branches of the river, and the French Horn

French Horn, Sonning Eye

The French Horn at Sonning is a luxury hotel and restaurant on the banks of the River Thames next to the Sonning Backwater Bridges , at Sonning Eye, Oxfordshire, England....

, another hotel on the northern bank.

External links

• Images of Sonning Bridge from Google
  Google
  Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
  
  
• Website with a picture