cornice, and block parapet of granite, with pedestal for the
lamps, and a neat toll-house. The approaches to the Bridge on
either side form gentle curves of easy ascent. The cost of the
Bridge and approaches has been about 41,000l. The appearance of
the whole is very light and elegant. This is owing chiefly to
the slight dimensions of the piers, which are smaller in
proportion to the span of the arches they support than those of
any other bridge in England; but this slight appearance does
not, we understand, detract in any degree from their strength,
or from the durability of the superincumbent structure."

From the same authority we gather this circumstantial account of the
Bridges erected at Staines from the year 1262:

"The first erection mentioned in the archives of Staines, was a
wooden bridge, said to have been erected in the year 1262; it
was constructed of piles of oak driven into the bed of the river
and covered with planks. We hear of no new erection from that
period down to the year 1794; but from that year to the present,
there have been not less than four new bridges in succession,
and on nearly the same site. In the year 1794 and 1795, a new
bridge, of three semicircular arches of stone, from the design
of the celebrated Paul Sandby, was erected, but, from some
defect in its construction, it lasted only five years, when it
was replaced by a very elegant bridge of one arch, of 180 feet
span, of cast iron, from the design of Mr. Thomas Wilson, the
architect of the celebrated bridge over the river Weir, at
Sunderland. The design was attributed to the noted author of the
_Rights of Man_; but the arch designed by him was cast in the
year 1790, by Messrs. Walkers, at Rotherham, whence it was