Folly Bridge

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Folly Bridge
Folly Bridge from the east
Crosses	River Thames
Locale	Oxford
Designer	Ebenezer Perry
Material	Stone
Number of spans	3
Piers in water	2
Opening date	1827

From the west

Folly Bridge is a stone bridge over the River Thames carrying the Abingdon Road, south from the centre of Oxford, England. It apparently stands at the site of the ford over which oxen could be driven across the Isis, the ancient name of the reach of the Thames between Folly Bridge and Iffley Lock. Remains of the Saxon structure may still be seen beneath the present bridge, erected 1825–27, to designs of a little-known architect, Ebenezer Perry (died 1850), who practiced in London.^[1] The origin of the name is doubtful.^[2]

In the 12th century, the alchemist Roger Bacon lived and worked close to Folly Bridge. A toll-booth gateway tower used to straddle the approach to the bridge, which was on the Abingdon to Banbury turnpike. The toll house was rebuilt in 1826 and is now Grade II listed. The former bridge and "Bacon's Tower" were drawn by many artists, including the twelve-year-old Joseph Mallord William Turner.^[3]

Robert Gunther, the historian of science, bought 5 Folly Bridge, an unusual castillated house by the bridge, in 1911.^[4] The house is embellished with statues and cast iron balconies on the outside. It is located on a small island in the middle of the Thames.

Salters Steamers are located near the bridge. Punts are available near the bridge and Christ Church Meadow is just downstream. The Head of the River public house is next to the bridge to the north-east, with views of the bridge and river.

A scheme for a public footbridge next to the bridge was designed by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners but was not built.^[5]

[edit] Notes

^ Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 3rd ed., 1995 (Yale University Press), s.v. "Ebenezer Perry".
^ The Gentleman's Magazine, August 1829:105, which gave an engraving of the old bridge and the tower reputed to contain the study of Roger Bacon.
^ "Folly Bridge and Bacon's Tower, Oxford 1787", pen and ink and watercolour, Tate Gallery.
^ A.V. Simcock (editor), Robert T. Gunther and the Old Ashmolean. Oxford: Museum of the History of Science, 1985, page 60.
^ Grimshaw. Folly Bridge, 1996.