Bridge Street, Reading

Bridge Street, formerly known as Seven Bridges, is a historic street in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It took its original name from the seven bridges that carried it over various channels of the River Kennet, and was the earliest crossing place of that river in the town.Bridge Street connects Southampton Street, formerly known as St Giles' Street, to the south, with St Mary's Butts to the north.HistoryIt is thought that this location was chosen as a crossing point due to the shallow streams being easier to build upon, rather than the deeper water downstream at the point where High Bridge is built or the marshland upstream.When the importance of the crossing had increased it became known as Seven Bridges due to the number of bridges. Ordered from south to north, these streams were:St Giles’ Mill Stream, following the line of Mill Lane to St Giles' Mill. The current main stream, which was not always the main stream. Originally St Giles' Mill Stream carried most of the water. A flood relief channel, 10m north of main stream. Another flood relief channel, north of previous one. Grey’s Lock Stream, also known as Simonds Ditch. This was part of a network of small streams which were once navigable by small boats. Minster Mill Stream, originally carried water to the Minster Mill, which may have dated from the Saxon period. Holy Brook, built to drive the Abbey Mill and to drain the toilets of the Abbey. Up until the end of the 17th century, the head of navigation of the River Kennet was in the vicinity of High Bridge, downstream of Seven Bridges. However between 1718 and 1723, the Kennet was made navigable upstream to Newbury, and as part of this work County Lock was constructed in the main channel just upstream of the bridges. Despite this work, the section of the main channel downstream of the bridge remained a difficult and narrow navigation, and came to be known as Brewery Gut.