Ward Bridge

• River: Walkham, between Criptor Cross and Sampford Spiney
• Grid reference: SX 5420 7201 (Legendary Dartmoor)
• Date: late 19th century, after the flood of July 1890
• Designation: none found: Treks and Tors says it does not appear to be listed

Ward Bridge carries a lane over the Walkham in woodland near Eggworthy, about four miles from Tavistock by the old guides. The earlier bridge, which had resisted the floods for 300 years, was carried away in July 1890; the county had widened it earlier, which weakened its foundations. County stones marked C stand either side.

The guides of 1870 call the spot an enchanting little wood with oaks flourishing amid huge masses of granite. A different Warn Bridge in old books is on the Dean Burn at Dean Prior and has nothing to do with this one.

Sources: Dartmoor Explorations (Ward Bridge); Legendary Dartmoor, bridges gazetteer; Treks and Tors, Ward Bridge; The South of Devon and Dartmoor (1870).

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.