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The bridge was originally constructed in 1804/5 to carry the road from Shrivenham to Bourton. With the construction of Avenue Road, access to Bourton was improved and this route became less important and has been a simple track and bridleway for many years. In the late 1940's the bridge had become unsafe and was culverted and then collapsed onto the culvert to take the bridleway across the canal bed.
The project to rebuild this bridge is nearing completion; it has been rebuilt from the foundations up, with a brick arch similar to the original.
Current Position
We are looking forward to re-opening the bridleway over the new bridge. The brickwork is complete except for coping stones along the tops of the walls. Recently, we have been fortunate and obtained some copings reclaimed from a demolished railway bridge; we plan to start fitting these from January 2012. The building up of the bridleway surface is also nearly complete, one area requiring some additional base material.
Last year we hosted a successful Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) working party.
All the scaffolding was removed to reveal the full structure for the first time.
Also, donated kerbstones were collected and laid to both sides of the bridleway adjacent to the parapet walls, then 40 tons of ashphalt scalpings were laid to achieve the final gradient.
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Created in 1998 with help from project partners; the canal-side park at Shrivenham is well used by the local community.
One of the few lengths of Wilts & Berks Canal actually owned by the Trust can be found on the edge of Shrivenham just to the east of Stainswick Lane at OS grid reference SU243883. Approximately 4 acres of land became available in 1996 and was purchased by the local Branch on behalf of the Trust. At this time, the included 100 metre length of canal was totally infilled, having been used by the village for many years as a local tip before being covered over and abandoned to very rough pasture.
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This length of canal, of approximately 650 metres, is the closest section to Shrivenham village, lying 750 metres south of the High Street. It was considered to be a good place to start for not only would it raise the profile of the fledgling Branch locally but would also provide a most useful footpath between these two roads. The channel was largely visible although much infilled with silt, undergrowth and giant, coppiced willow trees, many limbs of which had collapsed. The towpath was impassable as the adjacent hedge and brambles had encroached.
Looking westwards from Stainswick Lane before dredging
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Having made a good start on our first major project, the dredging of the section between Stainswick Lane and Station Road, the Branch was keen to progress the adjacent canal section.
This length is approximately 1100 metres; from the Arch Bridge on Station Road to where the canal line is lost under Townsend Road (the road from the A420 into Shrivenham) near to the site of Bourton Wharf - the roads in this area being altered in the 1980s for the Shrivenham / Watchfield bypass.
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West Vale 
