Rotherbridge

The name "Rotherbridge" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Redrebruge, meaning "cattle bridge",{{sfn|Bruce |2000 |p=5}} or "cattle way".{{cite web|last=Evans|first=A. A.|title=Bridges of the Western Rother|url=http://www.rotherbridge.org.uk/article.htm|access-date=18 June 2013|year=1936|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807125807/http://www.rotherbridge.org.uk/article.htm|archive-date=7 August 2013|df=dmy-all}} The original Old English name was "hrÿdõer brycge", meaning "bridge over which cattle are driven". By 1280, the name had become "Rutherbrig", taking its present form in 1550.{{cite web|last=Rowling|first=Rolf|title=Coultershaw Beam Pump (5)|url=http://www.sussexmillsgroup.org.uk/coulter5.htm|publisher=Sussex Mills Group|access-date=22 June 2013}}

The name "Rother" for the river is a back formation from "Rotherbidge".{{cite web|last=Rowling|first=Rolf|title=The River Rother (Western)|url=http://www.sussexmillsgroup.org.uk/coulter5.htm|work=Coultershaw Beam Pump|publisher=Sussex Mills Group|access-date=18 June 2013}} Before this the river was known as the "Scir", a Saxon word meaning "bright" or "clear".{{sfn|Jerrome |2002}}

Rotherbridge was also the name of the Saxon Hundred or administrative group of parishes. In the Domesday Book, the Hundred of Rotherbridge comprised the settlements of Sutton, Petworth, Duncton, Barlavington, Lavington, Burton, Glatting and Stopham, a total of 194 households.{{cite web |title=Hundred of Rotherbridge|url=https://opendomesday.org/hundred/rotherbridge/|publisher=Open Domesday|access-date=18 June 2013}} Rotherbridge was the meeting place for the families from the hundred although this later moved to the town of Petworth.{{cite web|last=Harris|first=Roland B.|title=Petworth|url=http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=c982122f-65a0-449a-a4a7-773ce293cadc&version=-1|work=Historic Character Assessment Report|publisher=West Sussex County Council|access-date=18 June 2013 |page=13 |date=February 2010}}

In 1872, John Marius Wilson, in The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the Hundred of Rotherbridge as "a hundred in Arundel rape, Sussex, containing Barlavington parish and 11 other parishes. Acres: 40,212. Population in 1851: 9,529. Houses: 1,687."{{cite web|title=Rotherbridge Sussex|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/20617|publisher=Vision of Britain|access-date=18 June 2013}}

In the late 14th century, a double-arched stone bridge was built across the River Rother by Parson Acon of Petworth.{{sfn|Vine|1995|p=72}} In 1540, John Leland, the antiquary, visited the Rother bridge and wrote that it was "a fayre Bridge of Stone made by one, Parson Acon, who builded the Spire of the faire steeple there in the towne" (of Petworth).{{sfn|Vine |1995|p=72}}

File:Geograph 2538768 New bridleway bridge over the River Rother by Rotherbridge Farm.jpg

Until 1800, the turnpike from Chichester to Petworth descended Duncton Hill before crossing the River Rother at Rotherbridge. From there, travellers could proceed towards Petworth via Rotherbridge Lane or due north to Tillington via Hungers Lane.{{sfn|Vine |1995|p=71}} The Petworth Turnpike Trustees, including the Third Earl of Egremont, suspected that William Warren, the miller at Coultershaw (half a mile south-east) was allowing his "friends" to cross the river by using the mill bridge, thus avoiding the toll for use of the turnpike. By an act of Parliament{{which|date=May 2025}} in 1800, Lord Egremont paid for the construction of a new bridge at Coultershaw Mill and the re-routing of the turnpike direct from there to Petworth. As a result, the former twin-arched bridge was pulled down and the stone was used to build the new bridge at Coultershaw with a toll-house on the west bank of the river.{{sfn|Vine |1995|pp=72–73}}

Following the demolition of the bridge, this was replaced by a floating footbridge to connect the farm at Rotherbridge with that at Kilsham (Kelsham) on the south bank. The bridge was chained to the south (left) bank and could be passed by boat by lifting this at one end.{{sfn|Vine |1995|p=141}}{{cite web|title=From Midhurst on the Rother to Littlehampton on the Arun |url=http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/mwp.php?wpage=MHIWc10.htm|work=My Holidays on Inland Waterways|first=P. |last=Bonthron|year= 1908 |publisher=www.rotherbridge.org.uk|access-date=18 June 2013}} Following the abandonment of the Rother Navigation, the bridge was replaced with a wooden footbridge, and then by a fixed suspension bridge in 1935 and by an iron bridge with tubular railings in 1961.{{sfn|Vine |1995|p=148}} This in turn was replaced in 2010.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |first=Pamela |last=Bruce |title=Northchapel A Village History |publisher=Northchapel Parish Council |year=2000

|isbn=0-9538291-0-3 }}

• {{Cite book |first=Peter |last=Jerrome |title=Petworth. From the beginnings to 1660 |year=2002 |publisher=The Window Press

|location=Petworth }}

• {{Cite book |first=P.A.L. |last=Vine |title=London's Lost Route to Midhurst: The Earl of Egremont's Navigation |year=1995 |publisher=Sutton Publishing |isbn=978-0-7509-0968-6 }}

{{commons category|Rotherbridge}}

• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130728192214/http://www.rotherbridge.org.uk/bridge06.htm Pictures of the bridge at Rotherbridge]}}
• [http://www.gravelroots.net/petworth/johnson/725.html Photograph of the bridge in 1930 or 1931]

{{Chichester}}

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Category:Villages in West Sussex

Category:Bridges in West Sussex

Category:Former toll bridges in England