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Langwathby, as its name ("long ford town") implies, originated next to the ford on the River Eden. Some time before 1671 this had been replaced by the "fair stone bridge" mentioned in that year by Sir Daniel Fleming. Edwyn Jervoise in "Ancient Bridges of the North of England" (1931) included a photograph and description of "a massive bridge having three segmental arches with a total span of 70 yards ... width between parapets is 15 feet, and on a stone in one of the recesses is carved the date 1686." This sandstone bridge was destroyed by the floods of 1968 and its replacement is constructed on the Callender-Hamilton system, designed by the New Zealand engineer Archibald Milne Hamilton. It carries the A686 road from Penrith to Alston. See also: