Boroughbridge

Boroughbridge is a small town 13 miles northwest of York in North Yorkshire in England. Until its bypass was built, it was on the main A1 road from London to Edinburgh. The A1 crosses the River Ure there.

In 1945 the A1 bridge over the River Ure collapsed under the weight of a heavy transport vehicle carrying an 80-ton steel mill roll housing from Sheffield to Falkirk. That interrupted a main transport route.

Boroughbridge was a parliamentary borough from medieval times, electing two Members of Parliament to the unreformed Commons. It had a "burgage" franchise, meaning that the right to vote was tied to ownership of certain pieces of property in the borough, and it had less than 100 qualified voters by the time it was abolished in the great reform act of 1832: It was a pocket borough entirely under the control of the Dukes of Newcastle. Augustus FitzRoy, who was later Prime Minister as the 3rd Duke of Grafton, was elected MP for Boroughbridge in 1756; however, he never sat for the borough as he preferred to represent Bury St. Edmunds where he had also been elected.

Close to Boroughbridge is the village of Aldborough, once the site of the Roman settlement Isurium Brigantum(SE406664). There is a small museum.

[edit] References

D Englefield, J Seaton & I White, Facts About the British Prime Ministers (London: Mansell, 1995)
Frederic A Youngs, Jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Volume I (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1979)