St Ives Bridge

St Ives Bridge is a 15th-century bridge crossing the River Great Ouse in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, England. It is noted for being one of only four bridges in England to incorporate a chapel (the others being at Rotherham, Wakefield, and Bradford-on-Avon).HistoryPrior to the first bridge here there was a ford across the Ouse, probably dating back several thousand years. The river was at that time wider and shallower until locks were added to make it navigable.The St Ives settlement was developed by the monks of Ramsey Abbey who built the town's first bridge, a wooden structure, in 1107. In 1414 it was decided to replace this bridge with a stone arch bridge, which was completed in 1425, adding the bridge chapel dedicated to St Leger in 1426.Such chapels were relatively common in medieval times and served as toll-houses, as well as to allow travellers to pray or to give thanks for a safe journey. They also hosted church services.During the English Civil War the bridge was partially blown up by the troops of Oliver Cromwell to prevent King Charles I's troops approaching London from the Royalist base in Lincolnshire. The two arches on the southern side were demolished and a drawbridge installed in 1645 as a defensive measure by Cromwell's forces, who held the town. The drawbridge remained in use until 1716. When the bridge was partially rebuilt that year, the shape of the new arches was different from the surviving ones, leaving the bridge with two rounded arches on its South side and two Gothic arches on the North.