The very nature of a bridge dictates its symbolic use. It is a structure that joins two otherwise separate pieces of land, yet at the same time enhances their separateness. One can travel across it, from one land mass to another, but while on it the traveller is neither in one place nor the other. As the clocks were striking the hour. As to how place was perceived by different people in different places in different times, we can hardly guess.
Time is very much bound up with the sense of self, and hence with ego.
Place is very much bound up with property, inheritance and money on the one hand, and with collectivity or connection on the other. It is the 'National' Trust, not The People's or Volks- Trust. This title says a lot about the generally-accepted concept of a unitary United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Time and place are unavoidably political. They had real dungeons in the Middle Ages, and real dragons if rumour be true.