This Bridge was constructed from brick in about 1840, spanning the road from Harborough Magna to Churchover. Approx 100m east of the bridge, the road goes through a ford in the River Swift. In normal conditions, the water flows through pipes under the road but after rain, the river can swell very radidly, covering the road and making it impassable to normal vehicles. There is a depth guage on either side of the road to indicate the maximum depth of the water. For walkers and cyclists however, there is a footbridge which is usually passable in all conditions.
This section of the Midland Counties Railway main line tfrom Rugby to Leicester was opened on 30 June 1840. In 1844 the Midland Counties joined the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway to form the Midland Railway. In 1857 the Midland completed a new main line south to Hitchin and the Leicester – Rugby section of the Midland Counties was relegated to a branch. British Railways closed the Leicester – Rugby line and its stations on 1 January 1962.
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) refer to the reduction of route network and restructuring of the Railways in Great Britain outlined in two reports, "The Reshaping of British Railways" (1963) and "The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes" (1965), written by Dr Richard Beeching and published by the British Railways Board.
The first report identified 2,363 stations and 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of railway line for closure, 55% of stations and 30% of route miles, with an objective of stemming the large losses being incurred during a period of increasing competition from road transport; the second identified a small number of major routes for significant investment. The 1963 report also recommended some less well publicised changes, including a switch to containerisation for rail freight.
Protests resulted in the saving of some stations and lines, but the majority were closed as planned and Beeching's name is to this day associated with the mass closure of railways and the loss of many local services in the period that followed. A number of these routes have since reopened, been incorporated into the National Cycle Network or used for road schemes; others were lost to construction or simply reverted to farm land.