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Pontypridd Rhondda Cynon Taff Wales
Pontypridd Bridge is an arched single-span footbridge that spans the
River Taff at Pontypridd in South Wales. The bridge is also known as the
Old Bridge, or the William Edwards Bridge, but just to confuse matters
was originally known as the New Bridge. The bridge was built by William
Edwards and was completed in 1756.<br><br>
Although the bridge stands as an iconic feature of Pontypridd to this
day, William Edward’s had to struggle to construct the bridge, and the
bridge that we see today is the fourth bridge that he built to span the
Taff. <br><br>
The original three-arch stone bridge that spanned the Taff was washed
away following debris being trapped against the arches in a storm.
Edwards decided to solve the problem by constructing a single arch
bridge.<br><br>
His first three attempts failed, all collapsing into the River Taff, but
Edward’s was nothing if not determined and he persevered to the
successful completion of the fourth and final bridge. <br><br>
Pontypridd now had the longest single span bridge in Great Britain, the
140 ft bridge remained the longest bridge for another 40 years, and was
also one of the few bridges in Europe, and indeed worldwide, whose span
exceeded the 40 m mark.<br><br>
The problem with the Old Bridge was that it was so steep that it made it
very difficult to get horse carts to go across it. By 1857, a new
bridge, the Victoria Bridge, was built next to the Old Bridge, which was
paid for by the people of Pontypridd. The Victoria Bridge is a
three-arch bridge, that was built by Thomas Jenkins, this overcame many
of the problems with the steepness of the Old Bridge.
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