Present Structure
By 1826 the old bridge was in poor repair and the Trustees placed an advertisement announcing the wooden structure would be closed starting 10 May 1826 and a ferry provided whilst a new stone bridge was being built. The Act of Parliament renewing the Trustees' powers received Royal Assent on 2 April 1827 and described the old bridge as "ruinous" and "in part taken down" and the new one "nearly completed". The Act also contains one of the earliest mentions of the convention of driving on the left in the United Kingdom laying down a fine of 20-40 shillings (equivalent to £75 to £151 today) for "any person who shall not keep his carriage on the left hand side of the road".
A few months later on 18 June 1827 the Reading Mercury noted that "the Substantial Stone Bridge over the River Thames at Shillingford has for a long time been sufficiently complete for the passage of travellers and their carriages and it will very shortly be finished in all its ornamental parts". The new bridge was entirely made of stone with three semi-circular river spans, the middle one 52 feet (16 m) wide and the flanking pair 36 feet (11 m) each. On the Oxfordshire (north) bank was a small tow-path arch and a 300 feet (91 m) causeway. The toll-keeper's cottage was located on the downstream side of the Oxfordshire bank.
In 1852 the Trustees' powers were renewed by Act of Parliament which also allowed for additional tolls for vehicles "drawn by steam or machinery". Twenty years later, in 1872, a law was passed allowing the trustees and owners of turnpikes and toll-bridges to surrender their rights to the local highway authority. Bridge traffic had been declining since the opening of the Reading to Oxford Railway in 1844 so the Trustees immediately made arrangements to pass the bridge to the counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire. From midnight on 1 November 1874 tolls were permanently lifted.
Other than the demolition of the toll-keeper's cottage in 1937 the external appearance of the bridge and environs remains as when it was built in 1827. The bridge has been listed Grade II* since 9 April 1952.
Read more about this topic: Shillingford Bridge
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