If you've ever travelled along the A130 in Essex, you may have noticed some unusual signs on the side of the road at certain points during your journey.
Between Saddlers Farm in Benfleet and the junction with the A12 at Howe Green, there are 15 bridges made up of footbridges and small roads which go over and under the busy A130. Each of these bridges has a name, displayed on small white signs by the structures.
Essex Highways says each one was named after a local landmark, allowing Essex Police to easily use them as a reference point during traffic jams and accidents. The names all suit the rural nature of the road, which travels through farmland between Chelmsford and Basildon.
Read more: Taxi drives wrong way down A13 before being caught by police
Read on to find out the names of each of the A130 bridges and what they mean.
Annwood Bridge
Annwood Bridge is the first bridge to have a name on this stretch of the A130. It is where the road travels over the A127, and is named the nearby Annwood Lodge.
Annwood Lodge is a house and small business park just off of the A127 near the bridge.
Monument Bridge
Monument Bridge is where the A130 travels over Greater Anglia train lines which travel through Rayleigh and Hockley to Southend. It was given this name due to the many monuments nearby commemorating aircraft that crashed during the First World War.
Rawreth Barn Bridge
The first bridge where a bridge is actually visible from the A130, Rawreth Barn Bridge, is where a small road called Doublegate Lane travels over the A130. Rather predictably, it's named after a nearby farm.
Rawreth Farm is just a little bit along from the bridge down Doublegate Lane in Shotgate.
Ivydene Bridge
Like the first two bridges, Ivydene Bridge is when the A130 travels over something, in this case the A129 road. Its name comes from Ivydene Nursery, which is very close to the bridge, and also has a garden centre of the same name.
Mayrose Bridge
Mayrose Bridge comes very soon after Ivydene, and is where the A130 meets yet another obstacle. This one is more natural, as it's when the road travels over the River Crouch. The name comes from the nearby Mayrose House, near South Woodham Ferrers.
Ashdale Bridge
Like Monument Bridge, Ashdale Bridge travels over train lines. These lines are also run by Greater Anglia and run from London Liverpool Street through to Southminster via Battlesbridge and Burnham-on-Crouch.
Like Mayrose Bridge, the name Ashdale comes from a nearby 100-year-old house.
Turnpike Bridge
Turnpike Bridge, which towers over the county route, is when the A132 to Wickford travels above the A130. Essex has a habit of giving its roundabout junctions names, and this one is named after a local one.
The Turnpike Bridge is named after the nearby Rettendon Turnpike roundabout.
Curry Hill Footbridge
There are two colourful footbridges which travel over the stretch of road between Rettendon and Chelmsford. The Curry Hill footbridge is named after a local road called Curry Hill.
The footbridge travels from farms either side of the road.
Hoe Bridge
Hoe Bridge is yet another moment where the A130 dodges an obstacle. In this case, it's when the busy route travels over the smaller road which is what the bridge is named after.
Hoe Lane connects two nearby villages together, stretching from Rettendon's Main Road to South Hanningfield's Chalk street.
Laceys Bridge
This bridge is where the A130 travels over South Hanningfield road, a busy route for the village of South Hanningfield. It gets its name from Laceys Farm, which is close by.
Canon Barns Bridge
Near to the next site, we have Essex and Suffolk Water's large water treatment plant for the local Hanninfield Reservoir. This small road is an access road for that plant, and travels over the A130. Canon Barns is also named after a small nearby farm.
Exchange Bridge
Church Lane travels over the A130 shortly after Canons Barn Bridge, creating Exchange Bridge. Exchange Bridge - like the earlier Monument Bridge - is named after a nearby entity. Nearby is a large telephone exchange.
St Peters Way Footbridge
Looking almost identical to Curry Hill footbridge, this blue footbridge also connects two footpaths near farms either side of the arterial road. St Peters Way is the name of one of the footpaths to the east side of the carriageway.
Downhouse Bridge
As the last moment on this stretch where a road travels over the A130, Downhouse Bridge is the last visible bridge over the road. This road is reportedly named after a local property, although it's unclear which property this alludes to. The unnamed road is often used as a footpath.
Sir Hughes Bridge
Now before we reach the A12 Howe Green junction we have possibly saved the best until last, with Sir Hughes Bridge travelling over the Sandon Brook.
Like others previously mentioned, it's named after a local farm. Unfortunately the farm no longer exists because of recent road developments.
Bridges were named after 'local landmarks'
An Essex Highways spokesperson said: “These bridges were named after local landmarks, which is a very common practice in naming bridges, to give some logical and local connection which may help people identify where they are, in relation to other landscape or historic features.”
“Essex is a wonderful historic county, with still visible landmarks from the pre-Roman settlements through to eighteenth century turnpike roads, local farms, industrial and wartime heritage. It feels like fulfilling a responsibility both to our ancestors and to visitors to Essex to represent that continuity in our modern transport construction.”
A version of this article was originally published in February 2019
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