Coventry was served by the
London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) from the 1830s and a branch line south to Leamington was authorised in 1843. The engineer for the line, including the Coat of Arms Bridge, was
Robert Dockray, who was one of Stephenson's assistants on the L&BR. The bridge spans a road, on the edge of what is now
War Memorial Park, originally known as Cocks Lane but later renamed Coat of Arms Bridge Road. The bridge has three spans, one semi-elliptical central arch flanked by two smaller supporting arches. The central arch has a span of and the flanking arches have a span of each. The side arches were widened in 1916. The structure is built masonry and faced in
red sandstone. The bridge takes its name from a shield carved into the parapet wall above the central span, which bears the coat of arms of the Gregory family of Stivichall Manor and the family motto "vigilance". The railway crossed the Gregorys' land and the embellishment on the bridge was possibly compensation. The bridge is a Grade II
listed building, a status which affords it legal protection, first designated in February 1955. A painting of the bridge by Herbert John Rylance, painted circa 1900, hangs in the
Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry city centre. ==References==