Avocation Once one has learned to recognize them, finding more iron bridges becomes an obsession and it is the author's intention to spread that affliction as widely as possible since it is to the bridges' benefit. One might assume that a stationary object of great weight and size whose approximate location is given, especially one known to be associated with such obvious landmarks as a canal or a road, would be easy to find. One should not make this assumption. In three summers of bridge chasing, the author has found that many bridges are extremely elusive. This is going to be the most discouraging aspect of the sport for new converts and it is a strong argument for including the GPS coordinates of each bridge in the inventory. An urban example would be the iconic 1793Pont-y-Cafnau tram bridge by Watkins George, chief engineer at the Cyfarthfa Iron Works at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. (Fig.15) It crosses the River Taff with a span of 47 feet. It has an original design: a closed iron box about two feet deep and six feet wide carrying water for the 50 foot Aeolus wheel that powered the bellows. On top of this box George put the tram tracks for the carts carrying limestone to the blast furnaces. This bridge/aqueduct is supported by an A frame of cast iron embracing it on either side, the four ends of which terminate in the masonry walls lining the steep river bank. Its practical yet original design was appreciated immediately by other builders such as William Reynolds (1758-1803), son-in-law of Abraham Darby III, who was working with Thomas Telford on the Longdon-on-Tern aqueduct when he is known to have made a sketch of Pont-y-Cafnu in 1794 {1, 3, 5, 10}
Far from being celebrated by its community, this neglected landmark is just beyond a distant corner of an industrial estate now occupying the former site of the Cyfarthfa Works. It is so successfully concealed by a row of tipsters, debris, weed trees and brambles that Christopher Parry, a staff member at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum, kindly volunteered to act as a guide.
In the countryside, when hope of success is almost extinguished and the light for good photography is failing, the best policy is to immediately find the oldest pub. The guardian of local lore is most likely to be found here, although he has also been tracked down while changing the oil under a very large lorry and on another occasion she was just about to sit down to her Sunday dinner.
Invariably, this venerable inhabitant, if approached with deference, has been politely puzzled but quite delighted to learn that a stranger wants to photograph 'their' old bridge. They will take infinite pains to be helpful. They will phone the farmer who holds the leasehold where the bridge is located, interrupting his Sunday dinner, to get his permission to let one cross his bullock field to photograph "the Coalbrookdale bridge". They will get on their bicycle and lead one to their well hidden bridge.
(This particular 1812 Eggington Park ,Stratfordshire foot bridge (Fig. 16) has lost its railing and has left only two of its spiraled bannisters with their scroll brackets. But there are those signature Coalbrookdale diminishing circles in its spandrels and the date on its crownpiece. It is still gamely stretching its elliptical arch 27 feet across a weir which probably once formed the estate's ornamental lake: a solid testament to the durability of cast iron. It is obviously still the pride of its local village.) **working on this...