Swarkestone Bridge

Trevor James reveals his continued fascination with this major Midland scheduled monument.

Almost 40 years ago, my role as a Nottingham University extra-mural tutor took me to Melbourne in Derbyshire. For the first few weeks I followed a cross-country route to Melbourne, via Burton-upon-Trent, Woodville and Hartshorne, but, on a dark November evening, having consulted the OS map, I took an alternative route. In effect I followed the Roman Road alignment (A38) from Lichfield to Willington and then followed the River Trent, passed the massive Willington Power Station cooling towers, until I could join the A514 to approach Melbourne from the north. 

This was my first encounter with Swarkestone Bridge...