Just a pile of stones!

Well, yes and no. It is a pile of stones, but they are not just any old stones, they were once part of a Roman bridge – an important Roman bridge.

When I found out from StuartDB that there was a PYO place at Piercebridge, it reminded me that I had often thought to go to the same place to find the remains of a Roman bridge – an English Heritage site. So off we set. Brunch at our favourite A66 café and peas, potatoes and strawberries picked, we went in search of the bridge, or the remains of it.
 
Piercebridge Roman Bridge
The remains are part of a large bridge that carried Dere Street, a Roman Road linking York with Corbridge and the Roman Wall, across the River Tees. You might comment that there is no river! Well, there is but it is close by, having moved northwards since the bridge was built.

The remains were discovered during gravel quarrying in 1972 and are what is left of the stone piers that held the bridge and some of the bridge pavement on which the piers were built. I have added in extras an idea of what the bridge may have looked like – an impressive piece of engineering. A thriving and extensive Roman civilian settlement grew up on both sides of the river and later a fort was built. The modern village lies within the area of this fort.

Tea and shortbread at the Farm Shop in Piercebridge and we set off home, hoping to avoid the Friday afternoon Lake District traffic on the A66, which incidentally has extensive roadworks on it at the moment – what a time to choose to replace the road surface!!
 
A good day – thanks Stuart!