Godmanchester Chinese Bridge

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Godmanchester Chinese Bridge is a Grade II Listed building and landmark of the town of Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire (now administered as part of Cambridgeshire, England). It is a pedestrian bridge that spans a mill stream on the River Great Ouse and is, as the name suggests, built in an ostensibly Chinese style. The original was constructed in 1827 to designs by the architect James Gallier, but the wooden span fell into a bad condition and was replaced with a replica by the local council in 1960.

The origins of the bridge are somewhat unusual. "Chinese Chippendale" had been a fashion of the mid-18th century, a time when the town was building a mansion for the Receiver General of Huntingdonshire by the river. Island Hall had included a rather smaller Chinese bridge, linking it to an ornamental island. It seems likely that this served as the inspiration for the public bridge several decades later – its white timbers are also in the Chinese Chippendale style.

The wooden span of the bridge was removed by crane on Tuesday 9 February 2010. A replica, built in Yorkshire by CTS Bridges, was put into position on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16 February.

In popular culture

The bridge was the principal subject for the song "Godmanchester Chinese Bridge" by The Howl & The Hum

References

Historic England. "The Chinese Bridge, Godmanchester (1128661)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
"The Chinese Bridge". Godmanchester Museum. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
"The Howl & the Hum – Godmanchester Chinese Bridge". Retrieved 7 July 2018.
"VIDEOS".

v t e River Great Ouse, England
Counties	Northamptonshire Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Norfolk
Flows into	The Wash
Towns (upstream to downstream)	Brackley Buckingham Old Stratford Milton Keynes Stony Stratford Wolverton New Bradwell Newport Pagnell Olney Kempston Bedford St Neots Godmanchester Huntingdon St Ives Ely Littleport Downham Market King's Lynn
Major tributaries (upstream to downstream by confluence)	River Tove River Ouzel (or Lovat) River Ivel River Kym Old Bedford River New Bedford River River Cam River Lark River Little Ouse River Wissey
Major bridges (upstream to downstream)	Harrold bridge A428 Turvey bridge A428 Bromham bypass A6 Bedford Town Bridge A421 Bedford bypass Great Barford Bridge A428 Bridge St Neots St Neots Town Bridge Godmanchester Chinese Bridge A14 bridge, River Great Ouse Huntingdon Old Bridge St Ives Bridge
Longest rivers of the United Kingdom Severn Thames Trent Great Ouse Wye Ure/Ouse Tay Spey Clyde Tweed Avon Nene Eden Dee

52°19′09″N 0°10′33″W / 52.31926°N 0.17582°W / 52.31926; -0.17582

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