Summary
A three-arched, stone road bridge, built between 1763-1770 by Stephen Wright for the First Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Reasons for Designation
Clumber Bridge, built between 1763-1770 by Stephen Wright, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* the bridge is skilfully ornamented and features elegantly detailed stonework, including carved balustrades, soffits, dentils and keystones. Though some of the balustrades and coping have been restored, its exceptional architectural quality survives well;
* the bridge is designed in a classical idiom by the architect, Stephen Wright, whose long-running patronage with the first and second Dukes of Newcastle-under-Lyme led to several commissions for garden buildings at Clumber Park.
Historic interest:
* the bridge forms part of the designed landscape of Clumber Park, a Grade I Registered Park and Garden, with features by known architects and designers for the Dukes of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Group value:
* for its significant contribution to the interest of Clumber Park, as one of several listed park structures, including the Grade II*listed Clumber Cascade, with which it forms a picturesque grouping.
History
The Clumber Estate formed part of Sherwood Forest until the early-C18 when a licence was granted to enclose a deer park. The parkland was initially used for hunting but by 1761 the First Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme had begun work extending the old hunting lodge into Clumber House. In the years that followed the park was landscaped and garden buildings and a lake were added.
Clumber Bridge was built between 1763 and 1770, spanning the River Poulter to the southeast of the site of Clumber House. The bridge was designed by Stephen Wright along with an ornamental cascade and weir approximately 120m northeast of the bridge (around 1763-1765, Grade II*, National Heritage List for England (NHLE) entry 1156520). The river was dammed between 1774 and 1789 to form an ornamental lake.
Wright is suggested to have begun his career as an assistant to William Kent and designed many other buildings under the patronage of the first and second Dukes of Newcastle, including the law school and University offices at Cambridge University (1754-1758; Grade I, NHLE 1126279). He also designed the house and several of the garden buildings at Clumber Park including the grotto and garden temples (Grade II*, NHLE entries 1045034, 1156484 and 1156511).
The Clumber Estate passed through successive generations with the title of the Duke of Newcastle under Lyme, but by the C20 the estate was in decline. In 1938 Clumber House, along with its terraces and parterres, was demolished. The park was requisitioned by the Army during the Second World War and passed into the care of the National Trust in 1945. Clumber Bridge was vandalised in March 2018 and extensively restored in 2020, including the replacement of balustrades and coping.
Details
A three-arched, stone road bridge, built between 1763-1770 by Stephen Wright for the First Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
MATERIALS AND PLAN: the bridge is built of ashlar and is orientated on a south-west to north-east axis with splayed abutment walls at both ends.
DESCRIPTION: the bridge arcs towards the centre above three unequal semi-circular arches with reeded soffits, raised architraves and projecting fluted keystones. The taller central arch is bordered by plain pilasters supported by octagonal cutwaters with domed tops. Flanking the outer pair of arches are rusticated advanced piers containing semi-circular headed niches and blank semi-circular headed panels with keystones. The balustraded top sits on a dentil cornice. The swept ends to the bridge have balustrades with moulded coping. These terminate in circular abutment piers with moulded plinths and domed caps.
