Now is Culham hithe[57] i-come to an ende
        And al the contre the better and no man the worse,
        Few folke there were coude that way mende,
        But they waged a cold or payed of ther purse;
        An if it were a beggar had breed in his bagge,
        He schulde be right soone i-bid to goo aboute;
        And if the pore penyless the hireward would have,
        A hood or a girdle and let him goo aboute. 
        Culham hithe hath caused many a curse
        I’ blyssed be our helpers we have a better waye,
        Without any peny for cart and horse.

        Another blyssed besiness is brigges to make
        That there the pepul may not passe after great schowres,
        Dole it is to draw a dead body out of a lake
        That was fulled in a fount stoon and felow of owres.

  [57] Ferry.

The poet was grateful for the mercies conveyed to him by the bridge.  “Fulled in a fount stoon,” of course, means “washed or baptized in a stone font.”  He reveals the misery and danger of passing through a ford “after great showers,” and the sad deaths which befell adventurous passengers when the river was swollen by rains and the ford well-nigh impassable.  No wonder the builders of bridges earned the gratitude of their fellows.  Moreover, this Abingdon Bridge was free to all persons, rich and poor alike, and no toll or pontage was demanded from those who would cross it.

Within the memory of man there was a beautiful old bridge between Reading and Caversham.  It was built of brick, and had ten arches, some constructed of stone.  About the time of the Restoration some of these were ruinous, and obstructed the passage by penning up the water above the bridge so that boats could not pass without the use of a winch, and in the time of James II the barge-masters of Oxford appealed to Courts of Exchequer, asserting that the charges of pontage exacted on all barges passing under the bridge were unlawful, claiming exemption from all tolls by reason of a charter granted to the citizens of Oxford by Richard II.  They won their case.  This bridge is mentioned in the Close Rolls of the early years of Edward I as a place where assizes were held.  The bridge at Cromarsh and Grandpont outside Oxford were frequently used for the same purpose.  So narrow was it that two vehicles could not pass.  For the safety of the foot passenger little angles were provided at intervals into which he could step in order to avoid being run over by carts or coaches.  The chapel on the bridge was a noted feature of the bridge.  It was very ancient.  In 1239 Engelard de Cyngny was ordered to let William, chaplain of the chapel of Caversham, have an oak out of Windsor Forest with which to make shingles for the roofing of the chapel.  Passengers made offerings in the chapel to the priest in charge of it for the repair of the bridge and the maintenance of the chapel and priest.  It contained many relics of saints, which at the Dissolution were eagerly seized by Dr. London, the King’s Commissioner.  About the year 1870 the old bridge was pulled down and the present hideous iron-girder erection substituted for it.  It is extremely ugly, but is certainly more convenient than the old narrow bridge, which required passengers to retire into the angle to avoid the danger of being run over.