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Bradford On Avon, Wiltshire

Bradford On Avon, Wiltshire

Roman relics were found above the town, and a Roman mosaic floor from a villa is under a school's playing field. The eastern side of the 'Town Bridge' was built in the 13th Century by Shaftesbury Abbey for its tenant farmers to cross the River Avon, then widened to the west in the 17th Century. On the bridge is 'The Chapel'. Chapels were sometimes built on bridges, bridges often being funded by the land-owning church, with a priest or hermit to administer mass and say prayers for travellers. The earliest known reference to Bradford On Avon's bridge chapel being used as a chapel is in 1660, though medieval, original, stonework was found during restoration so it's pretty certain that it started out as a chapel and was part of the original 13th Century bridge. 'The Chapel' was rebuilt in the 17th Century as a lockup, there are two cells in it. Only six bridge chapels remain in England and only four are actualy on the bridges themselves. The wealth of Bradford on Avon, then and now, dates back to the 17th century when woolen mills sprang up, powered by the river, - many of the houses built then for wool merchants are still now expensive homes. The bridge was the scene of a small skirmish during the English Civil War when Royalists took the bridge to continue on to the nearby Battle of Lansdowne with the Parliamentarians (1643). Also, on the outskirts of Bradford On Avon, is a medieval 'Tithe Barn', one of the largest surviving in England, built around 1340 for the collection of tithes in the form of produce, from tenants of Shaftesbury Abbey.

For the best places to eat in Bradford on Avon click here.

Film/TV Location For: Sanditon; Westward Ho!; Day Out; Treasure Hunt; Robin of Sherwood; Creation; The Canterbury Tales; Wolf Hall; The White Princess; Cursed; Downton Abbey (2019 movie); Robin Of Sherwood

The Town Bridge, Grade I, 13th century, widened 17th century, including a former lock-up of probable C17 date and known as the ‘Chapel’.

Bridge Tea Rooms, 1502, Grade II

Westbury House, built in 1720, Grade II*, site of a worker's riot in 1791 against the introduction of scribbling machines by the owner, a clothier. The machines took jobs away. When windows were broken the owner of the house fired on the rioters killing 3, including a boy, he was exonerated.

The Town Bridge, Grade I, 13th century, widened 17th century.

Lamb Building, Kingston Mills, art of a former rubber manufacturing factory. 1916, Grade II.

Old Church House, Grade II*, 18th century.

Barton Farmhouse, Pound Lane, Bradford On Avon. The Farmhouse is mostly early 18th century, with projecting frontage which is 14th century, Grade I.

Tithe Barn, Barton Grange Farm, Grade I, 14th century.

The Town Bridge, Grade I, 13th century, widened 17th century, including a former lock-up of probable C17 date and known as the ‘Chapel’.

Bridge Tea Rooms, 1502

New Mills, former woollen mill complex of mid C19, Grade II.

B3107, Bradford On Avon

Main Block of Abbey Mills, 1875, Grade II*.

On Mason's Hill, Round House, Grade II, early 19C.

St Laurence Church, Grade I Listed, maybe as early as 8th century

Tithe Barn, Barton Grange Farm, Grade I, 14th century.

Bradford on Avon Marina