Harford Bridge (River Erme)

• River: Erme, just below Harford church
• Grid reference: SX 636 595
• Date: a bridge on this site in the 16th century; repaired 1668-9, the present bridge may be a rebuild of that date
• Built of: granite rubble, two round arches with recessed rings, the western one a small flood arch, cutwaters both sides, widened upstream
• Designation: Grade II, Historic England list entry 1325414 (listed 23 April 1952)

Harford Bridge crosses the Erme about two miles north of Ivybridge, beside the church of St Petroc. It has two round arches, the western one a much smaller flood arch, and cutwaters on both sides. Henderson and Jervoise record a bridge here in the 16th century and repairs in 1668-9.

Rowe's Perambulation of Dartmoor pairs Harford Bridge and Church, and William Crossing walks the road to it from Ivybridge by Stowford and Lukesland. A path ran from the bridge over the moor towards Cornwood. A second Harford Bridge, over the Tavy at Peter Tavy, is Harford Bridge (River Tavy); always give the river.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1325414; Henderson and Jervoise, Old Devon Bridges (1938); Rowe, Perambulation of Dartmoor; W. Crossing, Gems in a Granite Setting (1905).

This bridge is one of the crossings gathered in Dartmoor Bridges, a guide to the clapper bridges, packhorse bridges and road bridges of the moor and its edge.