Trinity Bridge, Crowland........

............this is a very old and most unusual bridge which was built in the 14th century (1360 to 1390) (and, incidentally, quite difficult to photograph because of it's unique structure!!). It is a 3-way stone arch bridge that stands in the heart of Crowland village and used to span the river Welland and it's tributary but now spans nothing at all !! It was built to replace the original wooden bridge and the Barnack Stone was quarried fairly locally and presumably transported to the site by boat. It has 3 flights of steps converging at the top - if it was not built like this, it would have entailed the building of three separate bridges so was a very economic solution at the time and very clever!
It is one of the few bridges in the world that spans no physical obstruction. The Dry Bridge in Serbia is another but is much bigger.
Crowland Abbey is also sited very nearby and was what I had originally intended to "take" but it is undergoing extensive maintenance and had so much scaffolding that it rather spoilt the appearance of it - so perhaps another time..........

The weather was bright and sunny this morning with a cold wind but as the day wore on became cloudy and rained on the way home.

As usual a click on "L" will enlarge image

Hope you have had a pleasant weekend - it will very soon be 2013!