Kildwick Bridge, Yorkshire

The village of Kildwick, mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, lies where the former main road from Keighley to Skipton crossed the River Aire, which river is spanned by the bridge shown in the above photograph. The older part of the bridge, shown on the left with its ribbed vaulting, was built between 1305 and 1313, while the east side, shown on the right, was built in 1780. By 1968 the road traffic had reached such a volume that the bottleneck it created at the bridge and village had become such a problem that a bypass and another bridge were built. This was completed in 1988. Due to our recent heavy rains, the River Aire is very high at the moment.