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Henley Bridge and its architect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Francis Sheppard
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Extract

Henley Bridge spans the Thames between the parish of Remenham in Berkshire and the town of Henley in Oxfordshire. A wooden bridge had stood here from at least the early thirteenth century, but in 1782-86 it was replaced by the present five-arched stone bridge (Pis ia and b), designed by William Hayward of Shrewsbury, who died before the building work began.

Type
Section 4: Architecture and its Organization in the Provinces
Information
Architectural History , Volume 27: Design and Practice in British Architecture , 1984 , pp. 320 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1984

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References

Notes

1 Journals of the House of Commons, xxxvm, 31 January 1781, 138-39.

2 Colvin, sub Pitt, Thomas.

3 Boswell in Search of a Wife 1766-1769, ed. Frank Brady and Frederick A. Pottle (1957), pp. 168-69.

4 21 Geo. Ill c.33, public general.

5 Oxfordshire County Record Office, Flenley Borough Records (hereafter cited as HBR), A V/8, 30 November 1780.

6 Burn, J. S. A History of Henley-on-Thames (1861), pp. 253-54.Google Scholar

7 HBR, A V/8, 14 August 1769.

8 Correspondence between the Earl of Macclesfield and Mr Cooper, and between Mr Cooper and Mr White, J. C. 31 March-3 April 1781,Google Scholar inHBR, A V/8, 3 April 1781. Except where otherwise stated, this is the source for the next seven paragraphs.

9 Journals of the House of Commons, xxxvm, 22 February 1781, 225.

10 21 Geo. Ill c.33, public general.

11 Journals of the House of Commons, xxxvm, 22 February 1781, 225.

12 Colvin.

13 Bruce, W. E. ‘The Origin of the “Phyllis Court Lodges” ’ and see Harris/Robinson article in this volume, in The Henley Standard, 16 February 1972.Google Scholar

14 Climenson, Emily J. A Guide to Henley-on-Thames (1896), pp. 102-03.Google Scholar

15 Correspondence etc., inHBR, A V/8, 3 April 1781.

16 Correspondence etc., loc. cit. .

17 HBR, AXIX/7, ijune, 6July 1781.

18 Ibid., 14 September 1781.

19 Colvin: Ward, Arthur Walburgh The Bridges of Shrewsbury (1935), pp. 35, 37, 84 Google Scholar; Ruddock, Ted Arch Bridges and their Builders, 1735-1835 (1979), pp. 110-13, 234, 241-42 Google Scholar; information kindly supplied by Mr Anthony Carr of Shropshire County Library.

20 Horace Walpole’s Correspondence with Henry Seymour Conway etc., ed. Lewis, W. S. in (1974), 384-86.Google Scholar

21 Horace Walpole’s Correspondence with the Countess of Upper Ossory, ed. Lewis, W. S. n (1965), 484—85.Google Scholar

22 HBR, AXIX/5/1.

23 Ibid., A V/8, 7january, 29 May 1795. I am indebted to Mr Crocker for this reference.

24 Ibid., AXX/4/un-numbered.

25 Ibid., AXIX/7, passim.

26 In a letter of 30 October 1785 to Sir Horace Mann, Walpole stated that Mrs Darner ‘has lately carved two colossal heads for the bridge at Henley, which is the most beautiful one in the world, next to the Ponte de Trinita, and was principally designed by her father, General Conway’. (Letters of Horace Walpole, ed. Mrs Paget Toynbee, xii (1905), 343.) This exaggerated claim for the extent of the General’s contribution to the design of the bridge was clearly due to Walpole’s fondness for both Conway and his daughter, to whom he later bequeathed most of his estate. Much more surprising is Walpole’s view that Henley Bridge was the second most beautiful bridge in the world. This opinion was no doubt coloured by the same personal affection, and ignores the architectural solecism of placing a balustrade on a curved surface — a criticism sometimes levelled at Henley Bridge by the purists.

27 Burials Registers of St Mary’s, Henley.

28 Climenson, p. 28.

29 British Library, King’s Maps, XXXIV/33/3a-c, inscription on verso.

30 Probate documents in Lichfield Joint Record Office, Bird Street, Lichfield.

31 HBR, AXIX/5/1, 2; AXIX/7, 1, i6February, 3oMarch, 18May, 27September 1782; Colvin.

32 Ibid., A XIX/7, 18 May 1782, 7 November 1783.

33 Ibid., 18May, 27September, 1 November 1782, 3January, 7November 1783.

34 Ibid., 7 April 1786.

35 Ibid., 22june, 6 July, 2 August, 4 October 1782.

36 Ibid., AXIX/8, ijanuary 1826, 1 August 1828, içNovember 1830, 8, 22 April 1831.

37 Ibid., AXIX/7, 4March 1808: 48 Geo. Ill c. m, local and personal.

38 HBR, AXIX/9, passim.

39 Information kindly supplied by Mr Andrew.

40 HBR, A XIX/7, 7 May 1784.

41 Ibid., AXX/4/8andAXX/4/6.

42 Ibid., A XIX/7, $ July 1816.

43 Ibid., AXIX/8, 2 April, $ November 1830.

44 Ibid., 7July 1820.

45 Ibid., AXX/4/6.

46 Ibid., A VII/10, 25 May 1899, 22 May, 21 July 1903.

47 Ibid., 20 August 1903, 22 March 1905; The Henley Chronicle, 1 March, I4june, 27 September 1907.

48 HBR, AXIX/9, I9june, ^September, 18December 1868.

49 For this and much of the information in the next two paragraphs I am most grateful to Mr Andrew.