Changes

The original [[The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership#Before construction: 1845-1858 | 1852 estimate]] for the construction of the Railway, which included £8,500 for "a girder bridge at Arley",<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17612/17612-h/17612-h.htm Handbook to the Severn Valley Railway, by J. Randall 1863]</ref> also showed the station at Bridgnorth sited in the Low Town, east of the river. Although more convenient for the public, this would have required two further bridges, one south of the town near Quatford costing £8,000 and another north of the town near the present day golf course costing £9,000. A fourth bridge costing £10,000 was included near Shrewsbury in order to reach a junction with the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. Cost saving measures adopted in the final railway plans resulted in the line remaining on the west bank and passing under High Town through [[Bridgnorth Tunnel]] instead, and joining the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway, removing the need for these additional bridges.<ref Name = "Nabarro" />

During the Second World War the bridge formed part of Western Command Stop Line No 1, which followed the River Severn from Tewkesbury to Llandrinio, and was protected by infantry trenches and a movable steel and concrete railblock, <ref>[https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/dob/ai_full_r.cfm?refno=11063&CFID=036777f5-1e72-4b37-bd8c-19c140bb71fd&CFTOKEN=0 Council for British Archaeology web site]</ref>