A damaged medieval packhorse bridge has been restored to its former glory thanks to a restoration project involving TDUK member WL West & Sons.
According to government data, Tilford and Rushmoor are some of Surrey’s ‘most isolated villages’. Both Tilford and Rushmoor are linked by Tilford East Bridge. However, since September 2019, the medieval packhorse bridge has been closed for essential restoration sustained from a car crash in January 2017, and so was only passable via footbridge for 14 months.
According to local opinion, the consequences of the crash and road closure of the bridge decimated the village shop and Barley Mow pub for the past two years, cutting the village in half and further isolating it from nearby towns. Journeys that would previously have taken three minutes had become 15-minute detour drives.
As the patrons of Tilford Bridge, Surrey County Council stepped in and set about organising restoration works for this iconic historical monument, contacting timber merchant and oak specialist WL West & Sons to help manage the scope of the project.
Multi-span packhorse bridges like the Tilford bridge are structures of two or more arches supported on piers. They were constructed throughout the medieval period for the use of pedestrians and packhorse or vehicular traffic, crossing rivers or streams, often replacing or supplementing earlier fords. The Tilford ford (hence the name) is believed to have been made in approximately 1128 AD by the monks of Waverley Abbey and the bridge itself is said to have been constructed in 1286 AD.
Producing timber supplies for the bridge’s refurbishment was a huge project, and WL West wanted to ensure the repairs would last long into the future while avoiding repetition of the bridge’s previous problems. So, the company sat down with Surrey County Council to look at previous specs of the bridge and studied evidence of its behaviour over time. Certain changes were quickly identified that would be needed due to the challenges posed by certain structural elements of the bridge.
As possibly the oldest remaining packhorse bridge in England, there were certain structural elements to keep in mind to avoid trouble down the line, including parapets and multiple arches. It was also important to bear in mind the unique nature and circumference of Tilford Bridge: the overall convex shape stretches in such a way that all sections are of irregular lengths. This meant the new parapets and handrails had to be made bespoke to fit, following a new set of specifications.
All the bracing, mortise and tenons and cutting of the main beams was done at WL West’s site in West Sussex. Onsite manufacturing and following WL West’s specifications meant the steel inserts could be married in with the timber with a greater level of accuracy.
WL West & Sons ended up supplying 18 cubic metres of fresh-sawn oak and 10 cubic metres of well-air-dried oak boules (logs that have been cut several times length-wise) for the Tilford Bridge repair.
