Throughout history rivers have been a hub for human settlement and have
long been a key part of local livelihoods, history and culture, as well
as still playing a present-day role in providing services and leisure to
people who live around them. It is no coincidence that all four of the
earliest human civilizations were formed on great rivers: the Nile,
Euphrates, Indus and Yellow rivers all saw great human aggregation along
them. The most ancient and vital architectural structures linked to the
use of rivers are bridges.
There are a wide range of medieval bridge structures, some very simple
in their construction, to amazing triumphs of design and engineering
comparable with the great churches of the period. They stand today as
proof of the great importance of transport networks in the Middle Ages
and of the size and sophistication of the medieval economy. These
bridges were built in some of the most difficult places, across broad
flood plains, deep tidal waters, and steep upland valleys, and they
withstood all but the most catastrophic floods. Yet their beauty, from
simplistic to ornate, remains for us to appreciate.
Medieval Bridges of Southern England has been organized geographically
into tours and covers the governmental regions of Southwest England,
London, and Southeast England. There are exactly 100 bridges included.
There is an introduction and background information about the medieval
period of English history at the beginning and there are beautiful full
color photographs throughout the book.
