It is called Little Bridge in 1592; but in the Corporation Records for 1611, it is named "Frogmire Bridge," and the island between the two bridges is still known as Frog Island. It seems to have been once a wooden bridge; at any rate, timber is the only material that is mentioned in the early repairing accounts. In 1541 a post and rail were provided.
(3) THE WEST BRIDGE.
This bridge, which spanned the Soar just beyond the West Gate, has always been so named. It may have been built, as Mr. Kelly conjectured, by Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester. At any rate the Eastern arch of the bridge, or its foundations appear to have been undoubtedly of Norman architecture. It was reconstructed in 1325, of stone and timber, at a cost of more than £28; and again, in 1365, it was thoroughly overhauled, and, either then or shortly before that time, a little chapel was built over its Eastern arch. The old bridge was taken down in April, 1841. Both Throsby and Nichols say that it had four arches, but in Lee's beautiful drawing, which was made just before its destruction, there are only three. The bridge was replaced in the following year by a wider one costing over £4,000. This, in its turn, has been superseded, in recent years, by an elaborate structure of iron, erected about 1890, at a similar expense.
(4) THE BOW BRIDGE.
This bridge crossed the arm of the river known as the Old Soar, past the West Bridge, and beyond the Priory of the Austin Friars. It may have taken its name from a foot-bridge, which stood a few yards to the North-west, also known as Bow Bridge, "because it consisted of one large arch like a bow." This foot-bridge belonged to the monastery of the Austin Friars, and was used by the monks when they went to and from St. Austin's Well. It was swept away by a high flood in 1791.
Bow Bridge was repaired in 1666 at a cost of £15 12s. 0d. The restored structure comprised five semi-circular arches, and it was, in Throsby's opinion, "the most uniform bridge at
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