{"id":33640,"date":"2025-04-17T22:35:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T21:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=33640"},"modified":"2025-04-17T22:35:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T21:35:32","slug":"the-old-bridge-over-the-stert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=33640","title":{"rendered":"The Old Bridge over the Stert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/25041703.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nJohn sent in this fascinating photo of the old bridge over the River Stert \u2014 a hidden route that links Clifton Drive to Boxhill Park through a gap in the hedge. He tells me he used the bridge many times but has no idea of its history. Perhaps someone reading this does?<\/p>\n<p>One particularly curious detail: the large tree you can see in the picture isn\u2019t just next to the bridge \u2014 it\u2019s actually growing out of it. John describes it as quite extraordinary. And I agree.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s been some tree work nearby recently, with a number of trees felled along the riverbank, but the bridge itself appears neglected. John wonders why there\u2019s no visible effort to preserve it. It\u2019s not just a practical footpath, but a part of Abingdon\u2019s history being slowly reclaimed by nature.<\/p>\n<p>I know the Town Council manages Boxhill Wood, but I\u2019m not sure who\u2019s responsible for the bridge or this stretch of the Stert. If anyone has more information \u2014 perhaps about the bridge\u2019s age, who maintains it, or what its original purpose might have been \u2014 John and I would love to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John sent in this fascinating photo of the old bridge over the River Stert \u2014 a hidden route that links Clifton Drive to Boxhill Park through a gap in the hedge. He tells me he used the bridge many times but has no idea of its history. Perhaps someone reading this does? One particularly curious [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heritage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}