Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/377

Rh EXAMPLES.] BRIDGES the houses were three stories high, besides the cellars, which were within and between the peers, and over the houses were stately platforms leaded with rails and bal lusters about them, very com modious and pleasant for walking and enjoying so line a prospect up and down the river, and sonle had pretty little gardens with arbours. &quot; The passage between the houses was made 20 feet ; pre viously it had been but 14 feet, and in some parts 12 feet. These beautiful houses were burned in 1GGG, when they were replaced by a still finer pile of buildings, with a uniform roadway of 20 feet in width. Fig. 108 shows the bridge as it appeared in 1700. The piers varied in thickness from 25 to 34 feet, and were raised on strong elm piles, covered with thick planks bolted together. The openings in the arches varied from 10 feet to 32 feet 9 inches. The whole waterway was 33G feet 9 inches, two -thirds of the stream being occupied by piers. I ites. I 20. 75. 1300 to 1700 A.D. The strange triangiuar bridge at Ooyland (fig. 109) is another example of a bridge prob ably built for or by a religious body. This structure stands at the confluence of the Welland, the ISTyne, and the Catwater drain ; three pointed arches, having their abut ments at the angles of an equilateral triangle, meet in the middle, giving three watercourses and three roadways. Each arch has three stone ribs, and the nine meet in the centre. Croyland &quot;triangular bridge&quot; is alluded to in a charter of the year 943 ; from the character of the masonry the present structure is supposed to have been built in the beginning of the 14th century. A bridge over the Trent at Burton, 1534 feet in length, and consisting of 34 arches, was also built by a religious community under Abbot Bernard. Fig. 110 shows the old bridge at Saintes as M. Viollet- le-Duc considers that it appeared towards the end of the 14th century. The following description is abridged from his Dictionnaire ra.isonnee d 1 Architecture : &quot;The first gate appeared on the right shore of the river, on the side of the Faubourg des Dames ; next came the Koman arch, the upper part of which was crenelated during the Middle -Ages ; next on the side of the town stood a tower of oval plan, through which the road lay ; the town gates with flanking towers closed the end of the bridge. From the first gate to the Uoman arch the bridge was of wood, as was also the case between the great tower and the town gates, so that by the removal of this part of the roadway all com munication could lie cut oil between the town and the tower as well as between the bridge and the Faubourg ; moreover, the parapets were crenelated, so that the garrison of the town could at will stop all navigation.&quot; Clearly it was quite as important in those days to be able to arrest as to facilitate communication between the two sides of the river. The architects of the Renaissance showed great boldness and originality in their designs. The largest arch known to have been built spanned the Adda at Trezzo, constructed by order of Bernab6 Visconti, duke of Milan (latter half of 14th century. This bridge is described in Hosking s JlriJyes as having consisted of &quot;a sin 331 Ilann and arch of FIG. 110. Saintes Bridge. granite, verj well constructed of stones in two courses, the innermost 3J feet thick in the direction of the radius, the outermost 9 inches, the span at low water 251 feet; the river rises sometimes 13 feet.&quot; The radius of the arch was 133 feet. This noble bridge was destroyed by Carmagnola. tl (I &amp;gt; a c ll! ,j - . _ ,- 111 i i*. - _ n. r r i- -70 0&quot;- &amp;gt;-- FIG. 111. Bridge over the Ticino at Faviu. The covered bridge over the Ticino at Pavia (fig. Ill) Tavia. was erected, under Gian Galeazzo Visconti, about the end of the 14th century. This bridge, which still exists, has seven pointed brick arches, each 70 feet in span and G4 feet in height; the depth of the arch ring at the crown is 5 feet G inches. The tympanum is pierced ; the bricks used iu