In 1861 Gibbs purchased the ferry rights from Exeter College and applied for permission to build a bridge. This was granted in an Act of Parliament of 23 June 1864 stating the "local and public advantage" of linking Clifton Hampden with the Parish of Long Wittenham and granting the right to levy a toll. Gibbs selected George Gilbert Scott as the architect for all his improvements and a popular story, possibly apocryphal, tells how Scott drew the initial design for the bridge on his starched shirt-cuff over dinner with Gibbs.