Farndon Bridge

About

Farndon Bridge, also known as Holt Bridge (Welsh: Pont Rhedynfre or Pont Holt), crosses the River Dee and the England–Wales border between the villages of Farndon, Cheshire, England and Holt, Wrexham, Wales. The bridge, which was built in the mid-14th century, is recorded in the National Heritage List for England and by Cadw as a designated Grade I listed building and scheduled monument. It is built from locally quarried red sandstone and had eight arches, of which five are over the river. On the Farndon side there is one flood arch and two flood arches are on the Holt side.

Documentary evidence states the bridge was built in 1339 by St Werburgh's Abbey in Chester. Originally it had ten arches, with a large gate tower on the fifth arch from the English side. The tower was demolished to road level in 1770 and at some time two of the arches on the Welsh side were lost. The area is reputedly haunted by two sons of a Welsh prince who were drowned in the river at this point by their English guardians, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and Roger Mortimer de Chirk. During the English Civil war, a brief skirmish occurred near the bridge in 1643 when Parliamentarian forces advanced towards...