The first bridges were probably of felled trees lain across the river (Stockbridge and Trowbridge both refer to tree trunk bridges) and then of worked timber.

The Romans built bridges in wood, and probably stone, but none remain in Britain. The oldest surviving timber bridge is over the River Ouse at Selby and dates from 1790.

The first simple stone bridges - clapper bridges  comprise large slabs of stone rested on stone piers to span a stream or small river. Tarr Steps, which crosses the River Barle in Somerset, is the longest with 17 spans supporting stone slabs 5 feet wide. It is too narrow for carts but Pont Sarnddu in Carnarvonshire is ten feet across and wide enough for vehicles.

Packhorse bridges, small arched bridges, with very low parapets so as not to get in the way of the horse's panniers, can still be found  for example at Wycoller in Lancashire, Moulton in Suffolk, and Fifehead Neville, Dorset.

More sophisticated stone bridges were built abundantly in the 13th century, the use of timber continued into the 16th century. The river Skell at Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, is crossed by probably the oldest arched bridge in England. Thirteenth to fourteenth century bridges can be recognised by their pointed arches and by the V-shaped extensions over the cutwaters for pedestrian refuges. These were superseded by bridges which were ribbed under the arches (14/15century), and those with semi-circular arches.

But all of these styles are modified by the needs and knowledge of the locality. In the early eighteenth century Daniel Defoe observed "...the Nyd, smaller then the Wharfe, but furiously rapid, and very dangerous to pass in many places, especially upon sudden rains. Notwithstanding, such lofty high built bridges are as not to be seen over such small rivers in any other place".

Masonry arch and cast iron bridges derive from the late 18th and 19th centuries. Bridges were usually made from local materials. In the eastern counties they were first built with timber and then brick.

Stare Bridge over the River Avon on the main Leamington-Coventry road, a little to the west of Stareton, is built of red sandstone and dates from about the end of the 15th century.

A long bridge of nine arches with a slight camber, it is 10 ft. wide between the parapets. On the east, or upstream, side there are three large cutwaters carried up to form refuges, which have been refaced. The remaining cutwaters have all been lowered to the level of the carriageway, and the parapet rebuilt straight. Five arches at the southern end are pointed, of two square orders; the next two segmental, and the remaining two pointed. The west side has no cutwaters and all the outer arches have been rebuilt with buttresses of varying sizes added on each side of them. Between the two southern arches on the west side, part of the original wall face remains with a plinth of three successive splays. The parapets are modern.

The river now flows through the three southern arches only, the remainder acting as flood arches. The bridge is now disused, the road being diverted and a new bridge constructed a little to the east.