How many bridges are there in Bristol?

How many bridges are there in Bristol?

Posted on: 25 Apr 2024

Brycgstowe – the name Bristol is derived from – means ‘place by the bridge’, and was there ever a more appropriate moniker?

 

From the mighty Suspension Bridge down to the tiniest footbridge across the New Cut, Bristol is flush with water-crossing platform technology – but just how many bridges does Bristol have, anyway? We’ve gathered our boffins here at 365Bristol HQ for an extensive study, and our answer is:

 

21. Or 45. Or 58. Or over 100. It depends.

 

If you’re looking only at named bridges over the river Avon, then there are 20 bridges total. While you could debate quite where counts as a Bristolian bridge, the first we’re counting is the Portway Bridge to the west, continuing down via the famous Suspension Bridge.

 

 

Then, as the river splits via the New Cut, we get the Plimsoll Swing Bridge on one side, and the Ashton Avenue bridge on the other – continuing down via bridges like Vauxhall Bridge (which is, somehow, still under reconstruction – you can keep up to date with how much work is being down on the bridge with this brilliant twitter account), Pero’s Bridge and so on.

 

So that’s your 21-ish bridges. But, of course, there are plenty of bridges throughout Bristol that cross more than just the Avon – smaller waterways, railway crossings, road crossings even; if they’re named, they count. Thus, via bridges like the Rainbow Bridge (which you can learn more about on the 365 Instagram), the Watercress Farm Bridge and Frome bridge, we manage to raise our numbers up to 42.

 

 

Now, of course, there are also crossings across the Avon that aren’t called ‘bridges’ – or aren’t even named at all (according to your friend and mine, Google Maps, at least). These crossings, like St Phillips Causeway, Avon St, and ‘grey line’ (told you some of them weren’t named on the map), bring our total to around 58.

 

Finally, Bristol is also full of other miscellaneous little waterways – like the Brislington Brook and the Malago – that are absolutely lousy with crossings, from little streets, to unnamed footbridges, or even places where the water stealthily passes under the land via a tunnel. If you start to include those, the number starts to creep far above 100 – and we’re frankly too busy bringing you the latest in news and events to do the granular counting that requires.

If we’re getting really specific, there’s also the St. Phillips’ Bridge – aka the ‘bridge to nowhere’. This bridge was built to lead to the planned site of the Bristol Arena, but when the project was scrapped, the western entrance was blocked off. Does this count as -1 bridges? Or, does its very existence add a sort of negative multiplier to all bridges on the same river? Or, indeed, all of the bridges in Bristol? That could bring us to just under 100 – or even a number in the minus hundreds. That might be a bridge too far, though. Best forget it, like the council did.

 

So, in summation, counting bridges is a little more nuanced than we first thought – but if you’re looking for a simple answer, we’d stick with our estimate of 45: it’s backed up by Jeff Lucas and Dr Thilo Goss, whose book Brycgstow to Bristol in 45 Bridges puts the number at, well, 45. If asked, however, we’d suggest you respond with the one thing that’s indisputably true:

 

How many bridges are there in Bristol? At least one.

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Patrick Bate

Patrick is a filmmaker with so much Bristol in his blood the white blood cells are graffiti'd. Educated at the Northern Film School in Leeds, he’s returned home to be a Videographer and Reviewer for 365Bristol and BARBI. When he’s not messing about with cameras, he enjoys playing guitar, spending far too much time on tabletop RPGs, and being an awful snob about cider. Have a look at his work here, or get in touch at patrickb@365bristol.com.