Editing Caversham Bridge (section)

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox Bridge
|bridge_name= Caversham Bridge
|image=Caversham_Bridge.jpg
|caption=Caversham Bridge
|official_name=
|carries=[[A4155 road]]
|crosses=[[River Thames]]
|locale= [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]]
|maint=
|id=
|designer =
|design= Arch
|material = Concrete/Granite
|spans = 2
|pierswater = 1
|mainspan= 
|length= 
|width= 
|height={{convert|15|ft|0|in|m}}<ref>River Thames Alliance. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080124114502/http://www.visitthames.co.uk/text.asp?PageId=320 Bridge heights on the River Thames.]</ref>
|clearance=
|below= 
|traffic=
|open= 1926
|closed=
|toll=
|map_cue=
|map_image=
|map_text=
|map_width=
|coordinates={{coord|51|27|57|N|0|58|38|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
|lat=
|long=
}}

'''Caversham Bridge''' is a bridge across the [[River Thames]] between [[Caversham, Berkshire|Caversham]] and the town centre of [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]]. The bridge is situated on the reach above [[Caversham Lock]], carrying the [[A4155 road]] across the river and also providing pedestrian access to the adjacent mid-river [[Pipers Island]].

The first bridge on the site was built sometime between 1163, when a famous [[trial by combat]] was fought on nearby [[Fry's Island|De Montfort Island]], and 1231, when [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] wrote to the Sheriff of Oxfordshire, commanding him:

:''"to go in person, taking with him good and lawful men of his county, to the chapel of St Anne on the bridge at Reading over the Thames one side of which is built on the fee of William Earl Marshal and by the view and testimony of those men see that the abbot has the same seisin of the said chapel as he had on the day the said earl died."''

[[William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke|William Marshal]] was the first [[Earl of Pembroke]], the principal landowner in the Caversham area, and [[regent]] during the early years of Henry's reign. He had died at his home at [[Caversham Park]] in 1218.<ref name=hor72>{{cite book | title = A History of Reading | first = Stuart | last = Hylton | publisher = Philimore & Co Ltd | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-86077-458-4 | pages = 72–74}}</ref>

[[File:Caversham Bridge, c. 1900.jpg|thumb|right|The previous Caversham Bridge {{circa}} 1900 by [[Henry Taunt]]]]
The old bridge was the site of a skirmish during the [[English Civil War]] in 1643 and was left with a wooden drawbridge structure on the [[Berkshire]] half. The bridge was still in this state when it was depicted by [[Joseph Mallord William Turner]] in 1806/7, in a painting entitled ''Caversham Bridge with Cattle in the Water''.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-caversham-bridge-with-cattle-in-the-water-n02697 | title = Caversham Bridge with Cattle in the Water | publisher = Tate Gallery | accessdate = 2013-12-17}}</ref>

In 1869, the entire bridge was replaced by an iron lattice construction. When [[Reading Bridge]] was completed in 1923 work began on replacing Caversham Bridge with the current structure which is of concrete with a granite balustrade. It was opened in 1926 by [[Edward VIII of the United Kingdom|Edward Prince of Wales]].

Since late 2018, Caversham bridge has featured on the club crest of local football team Caversham United Football Club.