This image of the surviving part of the Manor Road bridge was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows a view from Manor Road looking towards Park Road taken some time in the late 1980s or early 1990s, matched to an image taken in the Summer of 2018.

David Brock wrote in Kenilworth History 2007 / 2008 of the origins of the Manor Road bridge, as it crossed the former Woodmill Pool millponds, which used to stretch from Bridge Street to the mill dam at what is now Forge Road. The 1628 estate map shows the Manor Road bridge splitting the Woodmill Pools either side of it in half, with the Woodmill at Mill End at its eastern end: “A way (Manor Road) is shown crossing the Pool and the early history of this road and bridge has been lost. Also unknown are when Wood Mill was constructed, and when stone gave way to brick for building arches in Kenilworth”. 

David adds “The subsequent history of this Pool is also unknown. It was replaced by a Mill Leat ‘in the late 18th century’ when presumably the Pool was drained”, going on to speculate that the bridge itself might have been constructed much earlier, during the time of the Abbey.

Robin Leach adds that the footpath, a later steel bolt-on to the main stone arched structure, was added in 1907.

Visible on the left of the ‘now’ image is the site of the former Brethren Meeting Rooms, also known as The Iron Church. The railings in the ‘now’ image had been newly repainted as of the Summer of 2018.