Rochester Bridge Trust’s colourful and popular Enhancement Lighting Programme is back for 2026, illuminating the charity’s distinctive Old Bridge for a variety of events.
The Old Bridge will be illuminated at various points throughout the year, to express support for events important to the Trust.
The Trust will mark events relating to engineering, bridge-building, education and the environment, as well as key dates from the long history of the medieval charity. The programme concludes each year with a series of festive displays for Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Trust engineers installed low-energy LEDs on the Old Bridge– the distinctive Edwardian bridge with bowstring shaped trusses, taking traffic from Rochester to Strood – during refurbishment works in 2020.
The enhancement lighting illuminates the arches and trusses of the bridge and is designed to highlight the historic features of the listed structure. It is carefully configured to complement functional street lighting and avoid unnecessary light pollution. It is powered by renewable energy.
As with the maintenance of Rochester Bridge, the lighting is provided entirely by the Trust, with no cost to the public.
The Old Bridge Enhancement Lighting Programme is the creation of Kate Castle, Bridge Programme Manager. Kate designs and programmes the different displays for the year.
Kate said: “It really is one of my favourite parts of the job, and I’m delighted to see how popular the lights are with the public.
“We’re very proud of the Old Bridge and the enhancement lighting is a way of highlighting its historic features as well as important causes.”
Look out for the enhancement lights after sunset – to find out dates and events, you can read the schedule for Enhancement Lighting Programme.