Wye Bridge, Monmouth

Wye Bridge
Pont ar Wy
Coordinates 51°48′41″N 2°42′36″W / 51.811373°N 2.709876°W / 51.811373; -2.709876Coordinates: 51°48′41″N 2°42′36″W / 51.811373°N 2.709876°W / 51.811373; -2.709876
Carries A466
Crosses River Wye
Locale Monmouth, Wales
Characteristics
Material Red and buff sandstone ashlar
No. of spans 5
History
Construction end 1615–17
1878-80
Replaces Earlier, wooden bridge

The Wye Bridge in Monmouth is a bridge across the River Wye. The A466 passes over it and immediately meets the A40 at its western end. The bridge is a grade II listed building.[1] The total span of the bridge is 71 metres.[2]

History

The original wooden bridge was built in the Middle Ages; there is a clear reference to it in the fourteenth century. Earlier references to a bridge at Monmouth may refer either to a bridge over the Wye or to the fortified bridge over the Monnow,[3] although local historian Keith Kissack wrote that the bridge was known to exist in 1282 when it formed a boundary with the Forest of Dean.[4] It was completely rebuilt in stone in the early seventeenth century (1615–17). At that time, tolls were collected from all those crossing the bridge.[3]

A plaque on the parapet records the widening of the bridge on both sides in 1878–80 under the architect Edwin Seward of Cardiff, stating, This bridge was widened 1879 from designs by the County Surveyor, David Roberts Contractor.[5]

The bridge is built of red and buff sandstone ashlar. It has five arched spans with the original pointed arches visible beneath, but with both faces covered by segmental arches carried on the sharply pointed cutwaters.[6]

Routes

The bridge is a crossing for the Wye but it is also the start of the Wysis Way which is a long footpath that connects Monmouth to the Kemble in Gloucestershire and to other National footpaths.

See also

References

  1. ↑ www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk, Wye Bridge, Monmouth. Accessed 7 February 2012
  2. ↑ Alan Crow, Bridges on the River Wye, Lapridge Publications, 1995, ISBN 0-9518589-9-8, Page 136
  3. 1 2 M.L.J. Richards, Monnow Bridge and Gate, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1994, ISBN 0-7509-0415-1, pp.1–2
  4. ↑ Keith Kissack, Mediaeval Monmouth, Monmouth Historical and Educational Trust, 1974, p.33
  5. ↑ Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust, Historic Landscape Characterisation, Wyesham. Accessed 4 January 2012
  6. ↑ The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Wye Bridge, Monmouth. Accessed 4 January 2012
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