Elvet Bridge

Elvet Bridge, Durham City.  

Elvet Bridge
Durham's second oldest bridge was built by another prolific Bishop, Hugh Le Puiset, (also patron of the Galilee Chapel in the Cathedral, and parts of the Castle) sometime between 1170 and 1195.
Historic accounts of Elvet Bridge tells us much about the social importance of bridges. In the early 13th century, indulgences (forgiveness for sins) were being given by the Archbishop of York for anybody who would work on this bridge's construction which was probably more likely to have been reconstruction after the usual threat to Durham's bridges: flooding). 
Elvet Bridge had a chapel at each end - again this emphasised the importance of bridges, and the fact that that they were seen as landmarks, and important points of departure or arrival. One of the chapels, the one on inner river bank, was funded by a butcher. (The street at that end of the bridge was called Fleshergate.)
Elvet Bridge would also have had gates, forming part of the city's defenses. These were added (or strengthened) in the fourteenth century, when Scottish attacks on Durham were becoming frequent, but were demolished at the end of the sixteenth century – when they were no longer useful.
The buildings remaining on Elvet Bridge are just a few of the many that would have been there – it would have felt like a bustling medieval street, rather than the quiet pedestrian walkway it is today.   
(Source: Martin Roberts, Durham: A Thousand Years of History).