Marlow Bridge is a road traffic and foot bridge over 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,...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 between the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Marlow is a town and civil parish within Wycombe district in south Buckinghamshire, England...

 and the village of Bisham

Bisham

Bisham is a village and civil parish in the Windsor and Maidenhead district of Berkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,149. The village is on the River Thames, north of which is Marlow in Buckinghamshire...

 in 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 crosses the Thames just upstream of Marlow Lock

Marlow Lock

Marlow Lock is a lock and weir situated on the River Thames in the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England. The first pound lock was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1773.The weir stretches a long way upstream above the lock.-History:...

, on the reach to Temple Lock

Temple Lock

Temple Lock is a lock and weir situated on the Buckinghamshire bank of the River Thames near Temple Mill Island opposite Temple Meadows and not far from Hurley, Berkshire...

.

There has been a bridge on the site since the reign of King Edward III

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

 which was stated in around 1530 to have been of timber. In 1642 this bridge was partly destroyed by the parliamentary army. In 1789 a new timber bridge was built by public subscription with a contribution from the Thames Navigation Commission

Thames Navigation Commission

The Thames Navigation Commission used to manage the River Thames in southern England. In particular, they were responsible for installing or renovating many of the locks on the river in the 18th and early 19th centuries.- History :...

 to increase the headroom underneath.

The current suspension bridge

Suspension bridge

A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...

 was designed by William Tierney Clark

William Tierney Clark

William Tierney Clark FRS was an English civil engineer particularly associated with the design and construction of bridges...

 and was built between 1829 and 1832, replacing a wooden bridge further downstream which collapsed in 1828. It is the only suspension bridge across the non-tidal Thames. The Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Széchenyi Chain Bridge

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary...

, spanning the River Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, was also designed by William Clark and it is a larger scale version of Marlow bridge.

The bridge has a 3 tonne

Tonne

The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

 weight restriction and is used only by foot and local road traffic. Other traffic is carried by the Marlow By-pass Bridge

Marlow By-pass Bridge

Marlow By-pass Bridge is a road bridge across the River Thames in England. It carries the A404 road between Maidenhead, Berkshire and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. and crosses the Thames on the reach between Cookham Lock and Marlow Lock....

.

External links