Birchenough Bridge is the name for both a bridge across the Save River and a village next to the bridge. Birchenough Bridge is located 62 km from Chipinge

Chipinge

Chipinge is a town in southeastern Zimbabwe in the province of Manicaland near the Mozambique border. The town lies in a valley in the southern Eastern Highlands. One of Zimbabwe's most famous landmarks, the Birchenough Bridge is located on the Sabi River 62 km from Chipinge...

 in the Manicaland

Manicaland

Manicaland is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of and a population of approximately 1.6 million . Mutare is the capital of the province. -Background:...

 province of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

 linking Mutare

Mutare

Mutare is the fourth largest city in Zimbabwe, with a population of around 170,000. It is the capital of Manicaland province.-History:...

 with Masvingo

Masvingo

Masvingo is a town in south-eastern Zimbabwe and the capital of Masvingo Province. The town is close to Great Zimbabwe, the national monument from which the country takes its name.- History :...

. The bridge was funded and planned by the Beit Trust, a foundation chaired at the time by Sir Henry Birchenough

Henry Birchenough

Sir John Henry Birchenough, 1st Baronet, GCMG was an English businessman and public servant.-Early life and education:...

. It was completed in 1935. At a length of 1080 feet (329 m) it was the third longest single-arch suspension bridge in the world at the time.

Ralph Freeman

Ralph Freeman

Sir Ralph Freeman was an English structural engineer, responsible for the design of several of the world's most impressive bridges....

, the bridge's designer, was also the structural designer on the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...

 and consequently the two bridges bear a close resemblance, although Birchenough is only two-thirds as long as the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n bridge.Ralph Freeman also designed the bridge over the Zambezi at Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe/Zambian border. This design of bridge was tried out in Zimbabwe and when it proved to be successful, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built.

In the 1970s a 40-tonne load limit was imposed on the bridge but in 1984 the bridge was widened (roadway: 7.2 m to 10 m wide) and strengthened as part of the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

's Highway Project One. The village which sprang up next to the bridge has become the centre of a small-scale farming area.

The bridge is widely considered by Zimbabweans as being one of the country's finest pieces of architecture, and as such, it appears on the twenty-cent coin.