IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Riverside, STEYNING, BN44 3HW

Approaching Beeding Bridge on a misty morning in late September.

On the corner of Saltings Way and next door to the village barbers. Beyond the buildings is the eastern approach to Beeding Bridge.

The River Adur was formerly navigable for large vessels up as far as Bramber, where there was a large port, but as the river became silted up, the port moved down to the deeper waters nearer the mouth in Shoreham-by-Sea. This was mirrored in the history of Bramber Castle - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4596648 This view looks upriver at Upper Beeding, from a road which runs parallel to the river from Beeding Bridge.

There were originally two bridges crossing the Adur at this point; Bramber Bridge was originally the more important crossing another arm of the river to the west and being 170 foot long stone bridge with a small chapel in the middle; and the lesser Beeding Bridge built of wood crossed the eastern arm of the river. The former's importance shrank as the western arm silted up and was eventually buried around the 17th century. The latter's importance increased and the wooden structure was replaced with a brick one in 1785. The iron footbridge was added in 1926 as the narrow bridge originally carried the A283 over the river until a by-pass was built to the south in the mid 1980s. Beeding Bridge also marks the boundary between Bramber to the left and Upper Beeding to the right.

River walls are necessary to guard against the higher tides.

A view of the north side of bridge at high tide where it crosses the River Adur at the point where Bramber becomes Upper Beeding. A bridge appears to have been in existence here by the end of the 11th century and was probably built by the De Braose family who owned nearby Bramber Castle. The current stone bridge dates from around 1785 when it replaced a former timber bridge and was built by Magdalen College, Oxford who had acquired ownership from Sele Priory at the Reformation. The north side was widened in 1845 and the steel footbridge on the southern side added in 1926. Bridge House is on the left with the top floor of scaffold clad former Bridge Inn to the right.