fleak bridge

1) Wattled hurdles or wooden frames with bars, probably used in bridge construction.

It was not uncommon as a minor place-name. In fact, the OED has a reference to a bridge made with 'flekes' in c.1330. Yorkshire references to the place-name include: c.1250 inter Flekebridge et Northolme, Cononley

1365 'from Flekbrig to the end of the town', Thorner

1606 Fleake Brdige ... in bad repair, Bedale. An unidentified Flekebrigge of the thirteenth century is listed by Smith. It is uncertain how best to interpret what may have originally been a generic rather than a specific name. A Pickering castle document of 1325-6 shows that hurdles were sometimes laid on bridges to protect the surface from the wheels of carts - pro eisdem salvandis pro rotis carectarum

>. In Malton, in 1589, fleakes and wood laid over the water for passengers, for the time that the bridge was in repainring. This practice is a reminder that a 'bridge' might be a causeway across marsh land, in which case a 'fleak brigg' may have been such a structure.

dates 1200-1299 1250 1325-1326 1365 1589 1606

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Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0