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This is described by Margaret Slack (Ref.1) as 'One of the most attractive packhorse bridges in [the Pennines] ...standing on the direct line of the Roman Road from Castercliffe to Ribchester. It was crossed by teams of packhorses bringing coal from near Gisburn and ... lime from Lothersdale.' She adds that the date of the bridge is not known with certainty, but probably late 16th century.

The bridge crosses Pendle Water, draining the steep eastern scarp of that great hill, and subject to flash flooding; Slack relates a story that a bell used to hang from the bridge that rang a warning when water approached flood level.

Listed grade II *(List entry 1273194) and a Scheduled Monument. Originally it would have had no, or very low, parapets to allow ponies with low-hanging panniers to cross; the present parapets were added in 1815.

(1) 'The Bridges of Lancashire and Yorkshire', Margaret Slack, 1986.