Sir – Re: Nicholas Rhea's piece about bridge chapels. My parents used to live in Bradford-on-Avon, in Wiltshire, and I got to know the town well. The chapel is locally known as the “lock-up”. According to the tourist Information leaflet about Bradford-on-Avon "the ancient bridge remains the natural focus of the town”. Two of the 13th century arches are still intact, although the “lock-up” was added in 17th century when the bridge was widened. There are different theories as to the original purpose of the “lock-up”, one being it was a tiny chapel dedicated to St Nicholas whose emblem – the gudgeon – appears on the top of the weather vane. By the 1700s, it was a jail known locally as the “blind house”. It was usually occupied by drunks said to be “under the fish (the gudgeon) and over the water (the river)".
It is not recorded, as far as I know, as to when it was last used as a “lockup”, but the bridge is again a bottleneck in the town. Those stuck on it have time to admire the tiny building.
Bradford-on-Avon also sports one of the smallest churches I have ever been to – a town well worth visiting if anyone is down that way.
HAZEL TOWNESEND Leyburn.
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