Black Boys Bridge
Coordinates51°23′50″N 1°19′36″W / 51.397305°N 1.326731°W / 51.397305; -1.326731
CarriesVehicles, pedestrians
CrossesReading to Taunton line
LocaleNewbury, Berkshire
Location

The Black Boys Bridge is a road bridge in Newbury, Berkshire, England. At the western end of Newbury railway station, the bridge spans the Reading to Taunton line. The bridge has been described as the "southern gateway to Newbury Town Centre".[1]

History

The bridge takes its name from the Black Boys public house on Bartholomew Street, on the south-west side of the bridge.[2] The pub was at this site from at least 1796 and was last recorded in 1931 in Kelly's Directory.[3] The pub is now a beauty salon.[2] Another public house, the Vyne Inn, was on the north-east side of the bridge and dates from the 17th century.[2] Now a nail salon, the building is said to be haunted by a stocky man dressed in a frilled shirt and jerkin.[4]

The bridge was repaired in 1999. The bridge was re-opened in November 1999 by Liberal Democrat councillor David Beckett and local restaurateur Mr. Mirh, who laid the final brick.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Newbury Town Centre: Black Boys Bridge". West Berkshire Council. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Newbury: Two Town Walks". The Newbury Society. Civic Trust. 2009. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  3. ↑ "Black Boys, 62 Bartholomew Street, Newbury, Berkshire". Dead Pubs. The Historical Essex, London, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Berkshire, Kent, Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Sussex & Surrey Dead Pubs site in the South East of England. 26 April 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  4. ↑ Nash Ford, David (8 December 2007). "Ghosts from Berkshire Places". Royal Berkshire History. Finchampstead: Nash Ford Publishing. Retrieved 6 June 2010.


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