[96] “Bath Old Bridge and the Chapel Thereon,” by Emanuel Green, F.S.A., F.R.S.L., p. 143, British Archæological Association. [97] “The Builder,” August 20, 1887. [98] These dates I take from the catalogue of historic monuments issued by the Ministère de l’Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts. Some writers give the dates as 1178 and 1188. [99] According to Degrand; some other writers say nineteen. The largest spans were a little more than thirty-three metres; but even in these the size varied somewhat. [100] See Allen’s “History of the County of York,” 1832. P. Atkinson was the architect of the new bridge, and his work went on till March, 1810. As for the old Ouse Bridge, good views of it will be found in the “Antiquarian Itinerary,” Vol. I, 1815; the “Antiquarian Cabinet,” Vol. III, 1817; and the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” ninth edition. Let us take a glance at one of the pictures. On the west end of the bridge is a tall building carried by two pointed arches and crowned with a small steeple. It is the great Council Chamber, with a prison for felons beneath it, according to the “Antiquarian Cabinet.” We cross the river and find at the other side the gaol which was rebuilt in 1724. Two small arches on this side of the bridge balance those that arcade the Council Chamber, and in the middle is a graceful pointed arch with a span of 81 feet. The spandrils are relieved by a well-marked string-course, the parapets are fringed with railings and graced in the centre with two finials, which displace the mediæval cross. [101] See Mr. Kershaw’s article, “The Builder,” April 29, 1882, p. 531. [102] In Vol. X of the “Archæologia Cantiana” an inventory is given of the possessions of the chapel in the year 1549. [103] The photograph belongs to the London Missionary Society. The bridge itself has points of interest quite apart from the idol. There is a single arch of a horseshoe form with long and narrow archstones. The shelving parapets are decorated with small knobs of stone, and they do not rise to a gable point, like those in the Spanish variety of gabled bridge; there is a flat space at the summit, and below the middle of it the small idol is placed. [104] From information sent to me by the Rev. O. M. Jackson, who for more than twenty years has worked as a missionary in Western China.