MSO7745 - Oare Bridge, Oare (Building)

'Oare Bridge' is printed on the Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division 6 inch map, spanning Oare Water. [1] (SS 80214745). Oare Bridge (NAT) [2] Oare Bridge is a single-span, hump-backed stone bridge, with parapets and semi-circular head arch. It is a Scheduled Monument and Grade II Listed Building. [3] SS 802 474. Oare Bridge. Scheduled. [4] SS84NW OARE CP OARE VILLAGE 2/40 Oare bridge at NGR SS 8020 4745 22.5.69 - II Road bridge over Oare Water. Possibly C18. Random rubble local stone. Single arch span, splayed semi-circular arch, humpbacked, rubble voussoirs, hit and miss coping, parapets swept back. Scheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset County No 229) [5] In the literature, the bridge is conspicuous by its absence, and when mentioned is done so only in passing. Its omission from Jervoise's [7] is significant in that he probably did not consider it to be 'ancient' in 1930. Its absence from other, more general, regional guides is probably due to the attention given to the high drama of Lorna Doone's murder, set in Oare Church, which rather overshadows the limited picturesque qualities of the bridge. The Cartographic evidence suggests the bridge is a mid to late 19th century construction that replaced a ford at the same point. The absence of the bridge in maps before 1887 [8] should not necessarily be taken as evidence for absence. However it is unlikely that it would have been missed off the 1842 Tithe map [9]. It is likely that that the construction of the bridge resulted from the general need to improve communications in the region following the sale of the Royal Forest in 1820 and the subsequent agricultural improvement. A desk assessment and watching brief were undertaken during engineering works on the bridge. The desk assessment has shown that the bridge was built between 1842 and 1887, and replaced a ford at this location. The trial pits recorded a single phase of building, with no earlier surfaces. [10] The Scheduled Monument Condition Assessment of 2009 gave the site a survival score of 8. [11] The building was visited in September 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. It received a BAR score of 5A. [12] The site was surveyed in May 2015 as part of the 2015 Exmoor Scheduled Monument Condition Assessment. It was given a survival score of 3. [13] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [15]