York Historic Environment Record

There was a bridge over the river Foss here in 1309 and one was broken down by the defenders of the city in the siege of 1644 and restored twelve years later (VCH, York, 519). The present bridge was constructed in 1829 by H. Craven & Sons to a design by Peter Atkinson junior (YCA, B.50, 68, 134; K.64; and M.17a), the rebuilding necessitating the removal of Layerthorpe Postern. The single arch, spanning 35 ft., is now only visible from underneath, between later concrete additions.

'Miscellaneous Secular Buildings', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 4, Outside the City Walls East of the Ouse (London, 1975), pp. 44-54. Monument 17.

Reference to 'Leirfordbrigende' in 1341 suggests that the bridge was preceded by a ford, but the bridge existed by 1309 at the latest. It had three arches in Leland's time.In 1556 £14 14s. 3½d. was spent on the bridge, which was repaired again in 1570. Having been destroyed during the siege of 1644, the bridge was replaced by a temporary crossing of planks and rails in April 1646, and it was not substantially repaired until 1656 when the middle arch was rebuilt. After the passing of the Act of 1793, the Foss Navigation Company constructed a new central arch, and the responsibility for the disrepair of the bridge was in dispute between the corporation and the company in 1815 and again in 1828. In February 1829 it was reported that the Foss Navigation Company's enlargement of the central arch had so damaged the structure that a complete rebuilding was desirable; this was carried out by the corporation in 1829, the new bridge being designed by Peter Atkinson the younger. It was a wider structure than the previous bridge and its erection involved the removal of Layerthorpe Postern which had stood at the southwest end of the bridge. The bridge was widened in 1926 and has not been altered since.

'City walls, bars, posterns and bridges', in A History of the County of York: the City of York, ed. P M Tillott (London, 1961), pp. 510-520.

Bridge design:
Insufficent evidence to say whether pre 1644 bridge was a 3 or 5 arched structure although it was described as three arch in 1540 by Leland.
1779 painting by Michael Angelo Rooker shows five arched structure with full triangular height buttresses between each arch. The arches are all a two-centred pointed arch. The pre-1793 bridge was shallow five arched structure, with low parapet, some 43m long.
RCHME illustrations from 1807 and 1809 show bridge from Postern gate rising over a single tall arch flanked by full height triangular buttresses. These drawings describe the bridge after alterations some time between 1792-1807 by Foss Navigation Company.
Replacement built in 1829 with single arch spanning 10.7m it was also wider than the one it replaced. This bridge may have encapsulated parts of the earlier one within it.
1926 carriageway and papapet are lowered but height of archa bove the water maintained. Also widened with reinforced concrete. (John Oxley Statement of Reasons - Peasholme Green Bridge Junction Improvement Scheme 1993)



NMR Information

613515 Architectural Survey Investigation by RCHME/EH Architectural Survey

BF060298 LAYERTHORPE BRIDGE, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued.

Victoria County History, 1961, A History of the County of York: the City of York (Bibliographic reference). SYO1174.

RCHME, 1975, RCHME Volume 4, Outside the City Walls East of the Ouse (Monograph). SYO2424.

NMR, 2019, NMR data (Digital archive). SYO2214.