Bow Bridge

Bow Bridge spans the Congresbury Yeo at Iwood, a small hamlet near Congresbury in North Somerset. Built in the early 19th century from local stone, it is a single-span arched bridge about 5.5 metres wide. The bridge has a low parapet made of a single course of voussoirs and carries an unmetalled farm track. It is one of three Grade II listed bridges in the area, the others lying to the east and southeast. The name ‘Bow’ comes from an old word for an arched stone bridge, still used in West Country dialect. The bridge was commissioned in 1810 by the local Enclosure Commissioners to improve access across the Congresbury Yeo. Edward Lukins, a mason from Yatton, won the contract for £280, a large sum at the time. The bridge appears on the 1814 Congresbury enclosure map, linking pasture land held by Benjamin Thayer. Thayer farmed the surrounding land until his death in 1860, after which the farm was sold. Surveys show little evidence of earlier medieval occupation at the site. Visitors reach the bridge along a public footpath on the north bank of the Congresbury Yeo. The bridge itself is intact, with its original stone arch and low parapet still in place. Nearby lie two other Grade II listed bridges, Collins Bridge and Bridge over River Yeo, both of similar age and style. The quiet riverside setting and the bridge’s simple stonework offer a glimpse of rural North Somerset in the early 19th century.