After more than four months of closure, Potter Heigham bridge will finally reopen next week. But already steps are in motion which could see traffic banned from the landmark crossing for good. GEORGE THOMPSON reports
According to local legend, the medieval bridge across the River Thurne at Potter Heigham is haunted by a horse and carriage which has clattered across it ever since one crashed there in 1742.
It could be that this apparent apparition is soon the only four-wheeled vehicle crossing the familiar landmark.
The 600-year-old bridge has been bedevilled by structural problems in recent months.
A short-term repair project turned into four-month closure after a hole the size of a Wellington boot was found in December.
The road is set to reopen in the coming days, but talk in the village is now moving on to the subject of whether traffic should be able to use the bridge at all.
Many locals fear that the increase in the size and number of modern vehicles is putting undue pressure on the historic bridge, which has stood since 1385 and has adorned countless postcards as one of the Broads' key landmarks.
They believe traffic should use the more modern A149 road crossing - originally built for a railway - around 100 metres upstream, leaving the bridge, which divides the parishes of Potter Heigham and Repps with Bastwick, for pedestrians.
Potter Heigham parish council is launching a survey to canvas local opinion.
If there is a consensus for closure, the authority could press the case with Norfolk County Council to divert traffic onto the A149.
Chairwoman Sheridan Turner said: “The bridge is a significant part of the village and is a national monument.
“This is an opportunity to find out what the sentiment of the community about the future of the bridge is.
“We will be carrying out a simple survey to get their opinion, so the parish council knows what stance it should take.”
A recent public meeting in the village to discuss the bridge heard from a council's highways department official, who said it had a duty to reopen the bridge, as it was an established part of the transport network.
But Ms Turner said that this did not mean its status could not be changed in the future.
"If changes were to be considered a study would need to be done. But you wouldn’t do that until you know what the community thinks," she added.
While no vote was held at the meeting about what the public consensus was, Ms Turner said there seemed to be two general views.
One was to pedestrianise the bridge, closing it to vehicular traffic.
The other was for better enforcement, or a reduction, of weight restrictions on the crossing.
“The bridge was built to take horse-drawn carriages, the kind of vehicles we have today didn’t exist when it was built,” she said.
The survey is expected to be sent to residents within the next few weeks and there will be four weeks for people to respond.
Locals say the bridge appears to have sunk significantly on one side over the last 50 years.
This has been blamed on the weight of modern vehicles, issues with increasingly high tides in the area and damage caused when a lorry crashed over the side of the bridge around 50 years ago.
The area next to the bridge is notorious for high numbers of fish deaths, when certain tide and weather conditions cause salt water to surge into the waterways from the sea.
It is by far the smallest bridge on the navigable Broads and many craft are too big to pass beneath it and head up towards Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere.
Paul Rice, chairman of the Broads Society, is among those who have called for it to be pedestrianised.
He has said now is the time to sort the issue once and for all.
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