Riverside Bridge

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The bridge over Priory stream was commissioned by Barratt Homes Mercia as their contribution to the Vale of White Horse District Council’s Public Art policy.
The project was managed by Abigail Brown at the Vale of the White Horse district council and the bridge was designed by RPS in Milton Keynes; built by CTS Bridges Ltd in Huddersfield and craned into position by Fergal Contracts of Witney. The p.r. work was undertaken by Hannah Elwell of Unsworth Sugden, Leicester.
The steel and wooden bridge provides residents of the new Riverside Collection development and local people a direct route to Abbey Meadows Park and the Abbey Grounds. It is 22 meters long and weighs 18 tonnes and incorporates ten bronze panels; cast by Newpro Foundry that are inserted into the uprights of the balustrade under the handrail. The design for both bridge and bronze panels was inspired by one of the towns treasures now on loan to the Ashmoleon museum in Oxford. The Tenth Century Sword that was found during the mid 19th century in the river nearby provided me with the initial idea for a curved structure and the imagery for the panels; it came as a genuine Eureka moment that was readily accepted by all involved. It is one of the most exciting things to be asked to come up with an idea for an artwork and to walk away from a meeting with virtually nothing in mind and to come across something whilst walking in the area that takes root and becomes the start of something big!
The brief was to collaborate in the design of the bridge across the mill stream with RPS and to incorporate the artwork into the balustrades at either side. I decided to propose bronze panels that were inspired by motifs on the silver handle of the sword and carved the designs out of wax before taking the patterns to the foundry. The deigns were both foliate and figurative some depicting acanthus leaves and composite beasts and others showing images of the Evangelists. A series of lino-cuts and prints taken from the original artworks is available; see contact page.
After planning permission was finally granted the manufacturing of all the elements went to plan and became ready for installation simultaneously. Later children from St Edmunds school were involved in the project through a day of drawings, lino cuts and a torrentially wet site visit after a happy pic-nic in the grounds.
The bridge was opened in July 2008 by the mayor of Abingdon and members of all the different firms that had been involved.