22 July 2018

Welsh Bridges: 16. Footbridge at Devil's Bridge


For the last in this series of posts on bridges in Wales, I travelled down the valley below Devil's Bridge, following the Devil's Bridge Falls woodland walk.

At the lowest point of the walk, a small wrought iron footbridge carries visitors across the River Mynach before they climb back uphill to the main road.

The footbridge has been Grade II Listed since 2005. A plaque on the bridge states "Aberystwyth Foundry 1867. Thos Stooke Engineer". There doesn't seem to be any further information on who Stooke was, or which foundry built the metalwork.

The bridge is has two highly arched truss girders, each in double-Warren truss configuration. The upper and lower chords of the trusses are quite slender. More modern anti-slip flooring has been added at some stage, I'd guess mainly for durability reasons.

It's a pleasant bridge but the real attraction here is the scenery, with a cascade of waterfalls totalling 91m in height.



Further information:

2 comments:

GRB said...

This bridge seems to find its inspiration from Ferris Wheels. It doesn't look to be particularly user friendly bridge as the ascending and descending stairs along with the curvature of the deck all seem rather steep. It's not a place for tired people with bad hips and knees; nevertheless the location is extremely scenic and picturesque.

The Happy Pontist said...

To get to this bridge you first descend a steep staircase of some 90-ish steps down into the river valley, which is much more of a problem, see https://www.francisfrith.com/devil-s-bridge/devils-bridge-jacob-s-ladder-c1955_d140086