Countess Wear Bridge

This bridge, to the south of the city, was the lowest crossing point of the River Exe before the completion of the M5 motorway. Before the bridge was built it was a dangerous fording point - after three men and a horse were drowned, the Exeter Turnpike Trust decided to build a bridge. This was a busy time for the trust, as they had just embarked on building a new stone bridge up river, at Exeter in 1770. Thomas Parker of Topsham was engaged to build the Countess Wear bridge to a conventional stone design. Work started in March 1771 and it was opened on 14 September 1774. It had seven spans of between 23ft and 26ft in length. The width was 13ft 7in.

In 1842, the two central arches were replaced by a 60ft arch by Thomas Whitaker, on behalf of Robert Davy who had a part ownership of the nearby paper mills. The cost of the modification was shared by Davy and the Turnpike Trust.

In 1938 the road was widened to 45ft to cater for increased motor traffic along the new Exeter bypass. They used reinforced concrete with masonry facings - this is the side shown on the photo above. The opening of the M5 relieved the bridge of many of its 60,000 vehicles it was carrying per day. It is now part of the A379. The northern or upstream side is unmodified and still retains the facing of Parker's original bridge.

The weir after which the bridge was named was built by Isabella de Fortibus in 1284, cutting the port of Exeter from the sea, is just above the bridge. Also, the first Exeter Canal built by John Trew joined the Exe just below the weir at Matford Brook.