Documentary evidence states the bridge was built in 1339 by St Werburgh's Abbey in Chester. Originally it had ten arches, with a large gate tower on the fifth arch from the English side. The tower was demolished to road level in 1770 and at some time two of the arches on the Welsh side were lost.[5] The area is reputedly haunted by two sons of a Welsh prince who were drowned in the river at this point by their English guardians, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey and Roger Mortimer de Chirk.[6]
During the English Civil war, a brief skirmish occurred near the bridge in 1643 when Parliamentarian forces advanced towards the Royalists holding Holt on the western side of the river.[7]
John Warwick Smith (26 July 1749 – 22 March 1831), a British watercolour landscape painter and illustrator, produced a painting of the bridge and the landscape around, which has been reproduced since for use on postcards.
The bridge was refurbished in 1870/1871 at a total cost of £1100.[8][9] During the summer of 1870, two pillars were made safe as they had been reported as dangerous, and the lower rings of two arches were cut out and replaced with Minera stone cemented in place. Some work on the parapet walls was also required. Work was suspended during the winter and continued in 1871. The planned work included the removal of the toll-house and gate on the Denbighshire side, widening of the approach, and paving the road surface throughout. The final removal of the toll-house was delayed until 1879, when the bricks and other materials forming the toll house, and the gate posts and some adjoining land, were sold by auction with removal required within 14 days.[10] At the time of the refurbishment there were some people who wanted the bridge replaced with a new one, but this was opposed by others such as the well respected builder George Clark, who wrote in defence of 'this beautiful structure' describing it as 'one of the few remaining links connecting the past with the present' dating back some 600 years.[11] In June 1871 it was announced that the Farndon side of the bridge would receive similar improvements to those on the Holt side, i.e. widening the approach, paving, and making some repairs to the parapet walls.[12]
Access is controlled by traffic lights, permitting road traffic to cross using the single-lane carriageway. Two narrow footpaths on either side of the road are provided for pedestrians. However, due to the bridge's age, it is closed intermittently for surveys to be conducted on its structure. In the early 1990s the bridge was restored and renovated and at the same time an archaeological survey was carried out.[13] In the summer of 2018, the bridge was closed for significant structural repairs.[14]
^"CHESHIRE HISTORIC TOWNS SURVEY: Farndon Archaeological Assessment"(PDF). /www.cheshirearchaeology.org.uk. Retrieved 14 June 2018. An account of the Battle of Farndon Bridge, a Civil War skirmish that took place in 1643, states that the Parliamentary side '...advanced that night to Farne, which is a little towne on the Cheshire side – over against the Holt in Wales where the enemy kept a garrison' (Latham ed. 1981, 27). The east window of St Chad's Church contains 17th century glass depicting Royalist figures (CSMR 1791/1/1). "
^"Denbighshire Quarter Sessions - Surveyor's Report". Wrexham Advertiser. 22 October 1870. p. 8.
^"Denbighshire Quarter Sessions". Wrexham Advertiser. 21 October 1871. p. 5.
^"Wrexham and Barnhill Turnpike Trust". Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser. 1 November 1879. p. 1.
^Clark, George (4 February 1871). "Holt Bridge". Chester Chronicle. p. 7.
^"Holt". Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser. 3 June 1871. p. 7.
^Royden, Mike. "Farndon-Holt Bridge". Farndon Local History. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
