Old Bridge (Pontypridd)
| Old Bridge | ||
|---|---|---|
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| use | footbridge | |
| Crossing of | River Taff | |
| place | Pontypridd | |
| construction | Stone arch bridge | |
| overall length | 46 m | |
| width | 4.26 m | |
| Number of openings | a | |
| Longest span | 42.67 m | |
| start of building | 1746 | |
| completion | 1756 | |
| planner | William Edwards | |
| location | ||
| Coordinates | 51 ° 36 '18 " N , 3 ° 20' 18" W | |
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The Old Bridge ( Welsh Yr Hen Bont ), originally New Bridge or Newbridge , nowadays William Edwards Bridge or Pontypridd Bridge called, is a as a road bridge built, now usable only for pedestrians stone arch bridge over the River Taff in the town of Pontypridd in Wales , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .
description
The high arch of the Old Bridge , opened in 1756, stands directly next to the Victoria Bridge, which opened in 1857, with three small, flat segmental arches and a horizontal carriageway, later widened with a concrete slab, over which traffic now runs in two lanes and two wide sidewalks.
The Old Bridge spans the river with a single large segment arch with a span of 42.67 m (140 ft ), which rises high above the river and whose steep ramps caused great problems for the horse-drawn vehicles of the time. For today's tour by pedestrians, the 3.35 m (11 ft) wide carriageway was replaced by a stair surface. The bridge was originally 62 m long, but road works shortened it to 46 m when the Victoria Bridge was built . The segment arc corresponds to the section of a circle with a diameter of 53.34 m (175 ft). It is 4.26 m (14 ft) wide, including the masonry parapets. In its two spandrels there are circular passages with diameters of 2.74 m (9 ft) and 1.83 m (6 ft) and 1.22 m (4 ft) in diameter.
history
The bridge was built by William Edwards , a Methodist pastor who grew up in the area and who had repaired and replaced the dry stone walls of neighboring farms as a youth . Over time, he gained a reputation as a skilled bricklayer and stonemason in the area. So the representatives of the Hundreds of Miskin and Caerphilly turned to him with a request to build a stone bridge over the River Taff , and eventually commissioned him to build the bridge and maintain it for the next seven years at a cost of £ 500 .
Edwards, then 27 years old, built a stone bridge with three arches in 1746. Two years later, a strong flood washed so many uprooted trees and branches against their pillars and abutments that they collapsed under the weight of the dammed water.
Edwards therefore decided to build a bridge with a wide arch to replace it. Shortly before its completion, the wooden falsework was washed away by another flood, whereupon this bridge also collapsed.
Edwards did not give up and rebuilt the bridge. She stood for about six weeks, then collapsed. The reason was probably too little weight in the apex of the arch, combined with too much weight in the lower arch quarters.
In his bridge, which was completed in 1756, he therefore provided three cylindrical recesses and a stronger arched apex on both sides.
With a span of 140 feet, it was the widest span stone arch bridge in Great Britain until it was replaced by the New London Bridge in 1831 .
The bridge still stands today. It was in 1962 as a Listed Building Grade I under monument protection provided.
Web links
Individual references and comments
- ^ The History of the Old Bridge. In: Rhondda Cynon Taf Library Service - “Our Past” . 2018, accessed on May 14, 2021 .
- ↑ Hundred is the name of a lower administrative unit that goes back to the Middle Ages.
- ↑ Alec W. Skempton, Mike M. Chrimes, RC Cox, PSM Cross-Rudkin, RW Rennison, EC Ruddock: A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland . Volume I - 1500 to 1830. Volume 1 . Thomas Telford, London 2002, ISBN 978-0-7277-2939-2 , pp. 211 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ^ Pontypridd Bridge: A Grade I Listed Building in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff. In: BritishListedBuildings.co.uk. Retrieved May 14, 2021 .