A magnetic bearing (1, 2, 3) has two bearing members (5, 7) each of which carries a set of bearing elements (4, 6) and the bearing elements (4) of a said set carried by one member (5) interleaved with the bearing elements (6) of a said set carried by the other member (7) to define three or more substantially parallel interleaf gaps (11) between successive elements (4, 6, 4, . . . ) so that bearing forces can be developed as a result of magnetic shear stresses acting across those gaps (11). The magnetic bearing achieves its bearing forces as the sum of force contributions from a number of parallel (or nearly-parallel) airgaps (11) and each of these individual airgap force contributions comes about as the integration of magnetic shear stress over the airgap area brought about by causing lines of magnetic flux to cross the airgap at an angle to the normal. A source (3) of magneto-motive force is arranged that at least one set of flux lines (12) comes to exist which crosses three or more of the interleaf gaps (11) and at least the majority of the bearing force is developed as a result of magnetic shear stresses acting across such interleaf gaps (11).