Old Exe Bridge

The Old Exe Bridge is a ruined medieval bridge in Exeter, south-west England. Built between 1190 and 1214, it is the oldest surviving bridge of its size in England and the only British medieval bridge still carrying a chapel. The bridge replaced earlier crossings dating back to Roman times and was the work of father-and-son merchants Nicholas and Walter Gervase. At least 180 metres long, it once spanned the River Exe with up to 18 arches, carrying a road from the city’s west gate across marshy flood plains. The river’s shifting course and frequent floods shaped both its construction and later repairs. The bridge is unusual for its mix of sacred and secular uses. St Edmund’s Church was built into the structure, while timber-framed shops and houses lined much of its length from the 14th century. A chantry chapel added after 1257 served until the Reformation. Over six centuries, the bridge required repeated rebuilding after collapses in 1286, 1384 and 1539, with repairs using local Heavitree stone. By the 16th century, chroniclers like Richard Izacke noted its decay, yet it remained in use until a new bridge replaced it in 1778. Today, eight and a half buried arches have been uncovered and restored, now forming part of a public park. Some arches had lain hidden for nearly 200 years beneath modern buildings. The surviving remains, including sections of the medieval piers, stand as a scheduled monument near St Edmund’s Church. Visitors can walk the landscaped riverside path and see the bridge’s sturdy foundations, jet-black timber piles still solid after centuries underwater. The site offers a quiet reminder of Exeter’s medieval river crossing and the engineering challenges it once posed.