Walter Gervais of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, was a wealthy merchant who served several times as Mayor of Exeter and who founded the Old Exe Bridge on the west side of the City crossing the River Exe. He is one of Prince's Worthies of Devon.
Remains of the Exe Bridge and the Church of St Edmund built on it, burial place of Walter Gervais. The Bridge comprised 17 or 18 arches and spanned 180m between the abutments
Ruins of St Loye's Chapel
The Old Exe Bridge is a ruined medieval arch bridge in Exeter in south-western England. Construction of the bridge began in 1190, and was completed by 1214. The bridge is the oldest surviving bridge of its size in England and the oldest bridge in Britain with a chapel still on it. It replaced several rudimentary crossings which had been in use sporadically since Roman times. The project was the idea of Nicholas and Walter Gervase, father and son and influential local merchants, who travelled the country to raise funds. No known records survive of the bridge's builders. The result was a bridge at least 590 feet long, which probably had 17 or 18 arches, carrying the road diagonally from the west gate of the city wall across the River Exe and its wide, marshy flood plain.
Old Exe Bridge
Anonymous 19th-century watercolour showing the centre of the bridge and several of the houses built on it at each end
Watercolour of the 1778 Exe Bridge, from the collection of King George III
Two arches of the bridge, one pointed, one rounded; the bridge was built with both types.
