Chapel built on or immediately adjacent to a road bridge
A bridge chapel is a small place of
Christian worship, built either on, or immediately adjacent to, a
road bridge; they were commonly established during pre-
Reformationmedieval era in
Europe.
Although sometimes built on land at the very start of the bridge, bridge chapels were often built into the bridge structure itself, usually on one of the
piers which had been made especially large for the purpose.[1] These chapels were intended to minister to the spiritual needs of travellers passing over the bridge. Many were established as
chantries, where a
priest was employed to say
masses for passers by and for the
repose of the souls of the bridge's benefactors. In some instances, the priest would be responsible for collecting tolls from bridge users.[2] The cost of maintaining a priest or
chaplain could be very high, so some less well endowed bridges had a resident
hermit, whose duties, including collecting tolls and working on repairs, were regarded as acts of religious devotion.[3]