News

Powick Old Bridge repairs progressing

18 March 2025

Despite challenging winter weather and multiple flood events, restoration work on Powick Old Bridge, which saw fighting in battles in 1642 and 1651 during the British Civil Wars, is making steady progress.

With approval from key stakeholders such as Historic England, preparatory work on the riverbed and the backfilling of voids behind the bridge wingwall was undertaken in advance of a temporary support structure being installed on 17 March to help prevent further deterioration of the damaged arch. 

The damage to the bridge was originally caused at the start of 2024 by a build–up of debris following flood events. Whilst such debris has now been safely removed from the bridge area, plans for the prevention of such debris build–up in the future remain unclear. In February Worcestershire County Council was planning to hold discussions with the Environment Agency and other stakeholders about such plans, but were not in the position to discuss any future mitigation at that time.

Against this background, Worcester Civic Society and Powick Flood Forum have separately engaged with local MPs to explore with them how the future of Powick Old Bridge can best be safeguarded. 

Battlefields Trust Research Coordinator, Simon Marsh said:

‘It is good to see progress being made to repairs to the bridge given the bureaucratic complexity and practical challenges faced on the ground’.

‘However, as Worcester Civic Society has consistently argued, plans to protect the bridge from damage by future flood events need to be developed and put in place with some urgency if such harm is to be avoided in future.’      

Powick Old Bridge was constructed by the monks of Malvern Priory before 1447. Two arches over the river were deliberately broken down in 1651 as part of the Anglo–Scottish defences during the battle of Worcester and rebuilt later in the century.