British Iron Bridges

Wales

BIGSWEIR BRIDGE Chepstow-Monmouth Rd, 1826-29 SO 539 051 {N51o 44’ 33.5” W2o 40’ 6.0”}

A single arched bridge of 164 feet gracefully spans the Wye River just north of Llandogo on the A466 in a lovely sylvan setting. The four truss arched ribs were cast at Merthyr Tydfil. It was part of a toll road which was authorized in 1824 and was designed by G.Hollis of London. Later, in the mid 19th century two masonry arched flood spans were added at either end. Although only 12 feet wide, it continues to carry the modern traffic albeit in one direction at a time.

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Category: Wales

BETWS-Y-COED “WATERLOO” BRIDGE Caernarvonshire Wales Thomas Telford 1815 SH779 557 {N53 5’ 20.9” W3 48’ 0.7”  These coordinates taken a few 100 feet west of the bridge}

Carries the Holyhead Road over the Conway River. 105’ arched single span. It’s main feature is a beautifully cast face plate on the arch saying “This bridge was constructed in the same year as the Battle of Waterloo was fought” with the spandrel spaces filled with three dimensional thistles, roses, shamrocks and leeks honoring England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales which were cast by Hazeldine. It was strengthened with reinforced concrete between the ribs in 1923 and again in 1978 with a widened concrete deck cantilevered out to provide footpaths after which the original cast iron parapet fence replaced on the outer edge with a new protective fence between the road and the footpaths. The masonry abutments were strengthened as well.

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Category: Wales

ABERMULE CANAL BRIDGE Bynderwen Mid-Wales 1852 N52o 32’ 51.7” W3o 14’ 11.0”

To the west of the iron road bridge at Abermule, is a small girder canal bridge over the derelect Montgomery Canal. It was built at the same time as the road bridge as the masonry pillars and the road side railings attest.

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Category: Wales

ABERMULE BRIDGE Brynderwen Mid-Wales 1852 HEW342 SO 162 951{N52o 32’ 53” W3o 14’ 15.8”}

Crosses the River Severn at Abermule just off A483. The single cast iron archs span 110 feet supported by five deep ribs springing from rusticated stone abutments. It was cast in the Brymbo Company iron foundry in 1852. An inscription on the outer arch ribs proudly says it was the second cast iron bridge in the county of Mongomery (see Llandinam Bridge which was the first and designed by the same man who also designed the Caer Howel bridge, the County Surveyor, Thomas Penson). When the river is in spate and the vegetation is flourishing, it is very difficult to achieve a side view of the bridge since the river curves away above and below it. It is still in use today as the ceremonial entrance to the village.

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Category: Wales

ABERCAMLAIS near Brecon, Powy, Wales 1830 {GPS: N51o 57’ 0.1” W3o 30’ 26.2”} HEW1265 SN965 290

This bridge in on the private land. The suspension foot bridge crosses the Usk River six miles west of Brecon off A40 in the grounds of the Abercamlais estate. 80’ span attributed to Crawshay Bailey, ironmaster of Nantyglo. He built a number of these bridges over the Usk but this is the last one still unclaimed by floods perhaps because it is six inches higher than the others were. The owner told me that it is because of the way the pylons were fabricated, that one can date it to before 1860.

Two 1 1/8” wrought iron rods on each side spaced 2’8” apart vertically form the suspension cables. Their screwed ends pass through cast iron end-posts which are 6’ high and spaced 2’ 2” at the bottom and 3’ 4” at the top to which they are tensioned by nuts. This configuration was what Bailey used before 1860.

Every 10’ there are iron rods hooked over the top cables and looped round the lower cables which carry transverse 4” by 3/8” flat iron deck bearers. The footway is of four 4” by 3/8” iron flats riveted to the deck bearers but resting freely on the others.

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Category: Wales

TAL-Y-PONT BRIDGE c. 1822 Brecon/Monmouth Canal N51o 53’ 38.8” W3o 17’ 14.2”

In the little town of Tal-y-pont near Brecon, this simple bridge with solid parapet of bolted cast iron sheets once carried Hill's Tram line tracks across the road and the Brecon/Montgomery canal. It is a twin of the Llanfoist Tram Bridge over the canal ten miles or so east which is also almost 200 years old. The Hill's tram cars came down off the mountain fully loaded and powered by gravity alone. They had no brakes: the operator slowed their progress as best he could by dragging a thick pole along the sleepers. Their load of ore or coal was then transferred to canal barges.

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Category: Wales

ROBERTSTOWN BRIDGE 1811 Aberdare, Wales HEW371 SN997 037 N51o 43’ 20.4” W3o 27’ 11.7”

This very early tram bridge now serves as a foot bridge spanning the River Cynon at Robertstown in a sylvan setting only yards from the busy A4059. It was built for the tramway connecting Hirwaun and the Aberdare Canal Company head at Cwmbach. It was built by George Overton of the Abernaut Ironworks. Four arched and trussed cast iron beams spring from continuous cast iron brackets imbedded in the stone abutments. The deck covering the 36’8” span is made up of cast iron plates 9’11” wide. Its configuration and continuous casting is very similar to a now obscure and neglected tram bridge at Blaenavon Forge Side of the same age known as Aaron Brute’s Bridge and to the Rhyd y Car bridge relocated nearby by Joseph Perry birthplace in Merthyr Tydfil.

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Category: Wales

PORT HILL BRIDGE 1922 Shrewsbury N53o 42’ 31.3” W2o 45’ 51”

This "Victorian" suspension foot bridge spans the River Severn at Port Hill. I was designed and built by David Rowell & Co. The Shropshire Horticultural Society, paid for most of the cost. Prior to this delightful bridge with its towers, a ferry was used to cross into Shrewsbury from Port Hill.

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Category: Wales

PONT-Y-CAFNAU BRIDGE 1793 Watkins George Merthyr Tydfil, Powys SO 038 072 {N51 45’ 17.7” W3 23’ 43.8”} This seemingly modest and simple iron bridge was a pioneering prototype in its day. Its name means “bridge of troughs” and it served a dual purpose – to provide a tramway across the River Taff for transporting limestone from the nearby Gurnos Quarry to the blast furnaces at the Cyfarthfa Iron Works while acting as an aqueduct to carry water to the famous “Aeolus” 50 foot diameter water wheel which powered the bellows. Watkins George, chief engineer at the works, designed and built this ingenious bridge consisting of a closed rectangular iron box two feet deep and a little over six feet wide to serve as the aqueduct for the water. On top of the box he ran the tram line tracks. The whole was supported by a double A frame of cast iron on either side whose ends terminate in the masonry abutments lining the river bank. Watkins George had trained as a carpenter, so it is not surprising that the cast iron pieces are joined by mortise and tenon joints, a woodworking technique which was copied in other early iron bridges such as the one at Coalbrookdale for ease of assembly. The total span is 47 feet.

The practical originality of George’s design was immediately appreciated by other pioneering bridge engineers. The Shropshire iron master William Reynolds (1758-1803) (son-in-law to Abraham Darby III who had built the Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale in 1779) sketched the Pont-y-Cafnau bridge in 1794 and he worked with Thomas Telford on the Longdon-on-Tern aqueduct (1795) which carried the Shrewsbury canal over the River Tern in an iron “box” supported by diagonal cast iron beams.

Today, the setting for this landmark bridge is on the far side of an industrial estate on the site of the former Cyfarthfa Iron Works below Cyfarthfa Castle. It is so successfully obscured by an industrial tipster, debris, trash trees, and brambles that Christopher Parry on the staff at Cyfarthfa Castle had to personally lead me to the bridge because I could not find it.

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Category: Wales

PONTCYSYLLTE AQUEDUCT 1805 Thomas Telford near Ruabon HEW112 SJ271 420 {N52o 58’ 18.3 W3o 5’ 18.9}

This spectacular aqueduct carries the Shropshire Union Canal over the River Dee. This was Telford’s first use of cast iron to make the water trough rather than using the conventional brick or masonry sealed with puddle clay. Using iron greatly lightened the weight being supported by the high piers that rise 121 feet above the river. The trough extends under the towpath on the east side which gives extra width to accommodate the water displaced by the passing barges while maintaining the standard 7 feet 10 inch channel width. The aqueduct is 1027 feet long.

This was the first collaboration between Telford, William Jessop, Mathew Davidson and William Hazledine (1763-1840) who subsequently worked together and separately on many pioneering engineering projects involving cast and wrought iron. Pontcsyllte Aqueduct is now a World Heritage Site.

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Category: Wales

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