Leeds Bridge: The historic bridge crossing the River Aire which dates back to the Romans

By Saxon times the area had a new name, Loidis, and a ferry that was a vital north-south link for travellers.

The first indication of a bridge existing there was in the early 13th century when the still-small village - its name now variously spelt Ledes or Leedes - had a main street named Bridge Gate, later Briggate.

It was here that a wool cloth market was established, which by the 17th century would make embryonic Leeds the preeminent centre for trading woollen cloth in Yorkshire.

As business grew, the bridge was widened twice in the 18th century, and in 1870 work began to replace the wooden structure with today’s wrought and cast iron bridge, designed by T Dyne Steel, decorated with rings and flowers and adorned with the coat of arms of the old Leeds Corporation.

Stone taken from the ruined Cistercian monastery at Kirkstall, a few miles upstream, was used to construct a flight of steps leading to the Aire’s north bank.

The bridge has one important claim to historical fame. It was there in 1888 that Frenchman Louis le Prince shot the world’s first-ever moving pictures, filmed from the second-floor window of Bridge House on the south-east corner.

In the same building, the Rev. Jabez Tunnicliff, a Baptist minister, founded the temperance movement Band of Hope in 1847.

In 2019 major restoration work on the bridge was completed, including repainting the ironwork and protecting it from deterioration.