The Men of Arnor built a Great Road that ran west to east through the North-kingdom, from the Grey Havens on the Gulf of Lhûn towards Rivendell in the shadow of the Misty Mountains. As it passed through the central parts of the realm, this East-West Road crossed the course of the great river the Dúnedain knew as Baranduin, and at that point the Great Bridge was built.
The Great Bridge was constructed from stone, and crossed the river on three arches which gave it another old name, the Bridge of Stonebows ('bow' in this context refers to an arch of the bridge). As the old kingdom of Arnor broke into lesser kingdoms, the bridge fell on the border between two of this successor kingdoms: it marked a border crossing between Arthedain and Cardolan.
When the first Hobbits settled the Shire in III 1601, King Argeleb II granted them leave to dwell there, in a land that was properly part of his kingdom of Arthedain (it had formerly been used as a royal park). The Great Bridge was explicitly referred to in Argeleb's conditions for allowing the Shire-hobbits to settle: they would be responsible for keeping it in repair.
The Hobbits themselves turned the Elvish river-name Baranduin into the more homely 'Brandywine', and from this the Great Bridge acquired a new name, the Brandywine Bridge. It was by this name that it was most commonly known through the later Third Age, but it was still referred to as the Great Bridge even into the Fourth Age.
Notes
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The exact date of the building of the Great Bridge is not known, but we are told that it was made by the Men of Arnor, and their realm existed from approximately II 3320 to III 861. A plausible date would be II 3430 or shortly thereafter, because we know that the Men of Arnor strengthened the roads out of their land at that time in preparation for the War of the Last Alliance. Given the important location of the bridge, it does not seem unlikely that an earlier crossing of some kind would have existed at the same location before the Dúnedain raised their Great Bridge of stone.
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- Updated 27 July 2024
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