The bridge and the river
The River Pontar runs along the south side of the town. The Town Bridge crosses it at the foot of Bridge Street, with the Town Mill upstream and the Town Quay below.
The Town Bridge
A bridge is first recorded here in 1286. The present bridge has five arches. The two nearest the town are medieval, of the fourteenth century, with pointed arches and ribs underneath that can be seen from the riverside path. The other three were rebuilt in 1771, when the bridge was widened on the downstream side to take the turnpike traffic. It carries Bridge Street and is a listed building and scheduled monument.
Until 1834 the bridge was kept by the borough’s bridge wardens, whose accounts are at the museum. The Trust’s Bridge Fund, left to the Trust in 1994, pays for the care of the flood marks and the bridge’s history, not for the bridge itself, which is the county council’s.
The flood marks
Five floods are marked on the upstream face of the third pier, with the year cut beside each line. They were cleaned, measured and recorded in 2022, and the two oldest were recut.
| Year | Height above summer level | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1648 | 2.64 m | Recut in 1771 when the bridge was widened, and again in 2022 |
| 1795 | 2.31 m | The thaw flood of February; the quay master rang the Flood Bell at 2 a.m. |
| 1852 | 1.98 m | November; the Shambles and the lower end of High Street flooded |
| 1947 | 2.12 m | March, after the snow; 41 houses flooded on Bridge Street and Water Lane |
| 2007 | 1.47 m | July; the flood defence wall on Water Lane held |
The marks can be seen from the steps down to the Town Quay on the upstream side, or across the water from the bench on the Pontar Way, just west of the bridge.
The Town Mill and the weir
A mill is recorded at Vengerberg in the Domesday survey. The present Town Mill was built in 1784 and raised a storey in 1871, and ground corn and later animal feed until 1962. Its leat leaves the river above the weir and rejoins it below the mill. The building is now flats and offices, with a café on the ground floor from which the wheel can be seen through a glass panel. The weir was rebuilt in concrete in 1956.
The Town Quay
Below the bridge on the north bank, the Town Quay was the head of navigation on the Pontar. Barges brought coal, timber and slate and took away flour, malt and beer until the 1920s. The quay master rang the Flood Bell, now in the museum, when the river rose.
Today the quay has visitor moorings, free with a 48-hour limit, but no water or electricity. See Getting here.
The Pontar Way
The riverside footpath runs through the town along the north bank, crossing to Bridge Meadow by the mill footbridge. The Bridge, Mill and Mooring walk follows it.
Flood warnings for the river are issued by the national flood warning service; the visitor information point has the river levels. Bridge Meadow and the Pontar Way can flood in winter.