Shoreham Tollbridge is a wooden bridge crossing the River Adur. Despite its rather rickety-looking appearance it was sturdy enough to take main road traffic. The bridge was ten months in the making and first opened to public traffic in March 1782. Prior to that people and animals were pulled from one side of the estuary to the other on a flat raft.
The bridge was completely rebuilt during the First World War, retaining the original eighteenth century design. It was the main road (A27) for all traffic passing through Shoreham until 1970 when it finally closed to road traffic.
During a storm in January 1949 a miniature whirlwind left a trail of destruction from Worthing to Shoreham and a double-decker bus was blown off the bridge into the river. The conductor managed to jump clear; nine passengers managed to climb up to the bridge, while the remaining eleven passengers and the driver had to be rescued by firemen.
The tollbridge is the last of its kind in Sussex and thought to be one of the last of its kind anywhere in the world.
