The cottages and the village life of rural England . ked ways or roads, and to amende brygges to-brokeby the heye weyes. As M. Jusserand tells us, the pious characterof the bridges was also shown by the chapel that stood on the old bridge at Caversham, near the Berkshire town of Reading,there was an ancient chapel. In 1239 Engelard a Cyngny wasordered to let William, Chaplain of the Chapel of Caversham, havean oak out of Windsor Forest with which to make shingles for theroofing of his chapel. Passengers made offerings in the chapelfor the repair of the bridge and the maintenance of the
The cottages and the village life of rural England . ked ways or roads, and to amende brygges to-brokeby the heye weyes. As M. Jusserand tells us, the pious characterof the bridges was also shown by the chapel that stood on the old bridge at Caversham, near the Berkshire town of Reading,there was an ancient chapel. In 1239 Engelard a Cyngny wasordered to let William, Chaplain of the Chapel of Caversham, havean oak out of Windsor Forest with which to make shingles for theroofing of his chapel. Passengers made offerings in the chapelfor the repair of the bridge and the maintenance of the chapel andpriest. It contained many relics which were eagerly seized byDr. London, the Kings Commissioner, at the time of the dissolutionof religious houses. Of course this old bridge has disappeared,but it existed until 1870, when a modern erection was substituted forit. It is extremely ugly, but is certainly more convenient thanthe old narrow bridge which satisfied our forefathers. Some of these bridge chapels still survive, such as the very 120. LIFE OF RURAL ENGLAND beautiful decorated building at Wakefield, on the bridge acrossthe Calder, dedicated to St. Mary. It was built and endowedby King Edward III. There are also chapels on the bridges atBradford-on-Avon, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, and one ofstone wel wrought (as Leland records) at Rotherham, in York-shire. These bridges were also strategic points in military be able to hold a bridge over a river that could not easily becrossed except by a dHour of several miles was a distinct advan-tage. Hence not a few fights and skirmishes have taken placeon bridges. On the old Caversham bridge a severe engagementtook place in the time of the great Civil War. During the Warsof the Roses a battle was fought on Maidenhead Bridge, and atRadcot Bridge, in the same county, the Dukes of Derby andGloucester fought against the favourite of Richard II., Robertde Vere, Earl of Oxford, and compelled him to seek safety byplungin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectcottage, bookyear1912
