Hidden Henley

“At Conway’s Bridge, mind the ridge, single file, for just a while”. So said the signs fixed to trees on the approach to this historic and peculiar “Ragged Arch” around 25 years ago. Motorists had to give way to each other without the directive of traffic lights. Nowadays, with the volume of traffic and the increased pace of life it’s unlikely that many drivers will even be aware of what is underneath them.

My picture shows the rarely seen underside of the stonework of Conway’s Bridge along the Wargrave Road – as viewed from the footpath to Shiplake on the opposite bank. This cyclopic style bridge was built for General Conway, the then owner of the Park Place estate on which it sits, by Henley’s talented Reverend Thomas Gainsborough, brother of the more famous artist. When you imagine the weight of vehicles that it takes these days it really is remarkable that the construction is over 200 years old.

This is part of an outstanding area of interest and beauty and it is said that Queen Victoria had thoughts on buying Park Place for one of her residences. A little more recently it has been a school owned by Middlesex County Council where I regularly played football back in the 1950’s and can vouch for the splendid location and wonderful elevated views. Even more recently the land had a reputed 100 million pounds spent on it by developer Mike Spink who subsequently sold it for a record breaking deal – believed to be to a Russian oil magnate for £140 million.

All those years ago, as we travelled to inter-school football over this old hump-back bridge we were told by our teacher that the stones had been taken from Reading Abbey in an act of more or less vandalism. Since then it is said that the building material had been sourced from 14 different counties and that the precious abbey ruins were never harmed. Does any reader know the truth?