Llangollen Canal Bridge

[Alan de Enfield]

 

From a series of photographs of Wales taken some 160 years ago

 

While he may be unknown to many, within the world of photography Francis Bedford is one of the UK's most prolific landscape photographers and spent time in the Welsh countrside.

Bedford was born in 1815 and, in 1857, he became a member of the Photographic Society. In 1862, he accompanied the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII (1841-1910), as official photographer on a tour of the Middle East.

But he also took photos closer to home - including ones while on a visit to Wales. We've had a deep dive through the archive and unearthed Bedford's photos of north Wales which show both how life was very different back then and also how some places still look the same.

 

 

 

The bridge could be raised when boats needed to pass. Built by Thomas Telford (1757-1834), this canal played host to one of the earliest tourism developments in Britain. Pleasure boats were a feature of Victorian Llangollen, with passengers taking horse-drawn barges to tourist sights such as Valle Crucis Abbey and Elisegs Pillar.

[magpie patrick]

That's a very interesting picture - I'm pretty certain it's the bridge at Froncysyllte, the last bridge before the aqueduct, but I've never before seen a picture of it with rails over it. 

[robtheplod]

is that the bridge just round the corner from the ponty........ ?

[Tony Brooks]

Looking at the way the rails run and width of the canal I wonder if it is above Llangollen where the "garage" museum is. I think there used to be a tramway bringing stone down to the works on the other side of the canal to the quarries.

[magpie patrick]

1 minute ago, Tony Brooks said:

Looking at the way the rails run and width of the canal I wonder if it is above Llangollen where the "garage" museum is. I think there used to be a tramway bringing stone down to the works on the other side of the canal to the quarries.

 

Good point - the river is in clear view in the picture and it isn't at Fron 

[David Mack]

The curve in the background is the wrong hand for Froncysyllte, and the bridge pictured is skew, whereas the Fron bridge is square.

[Mike Todd]

Lladdyn No 2 44W?

 

Of course it could be a bridge that is no more . . .

Edited July 25, 2022 by Mike Todd

[Alan de Enfield]

I couldn't work out where it is, but thought it may stimulate some discussion.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

Looking at the way the rails run and width of the canal I wonder if it is above Llangollen where the "garage" museum is. I think there used to be a tramway bringing stone down to the works on the other side of the canal to the quarries.

The kink in the towpath wall and the gable on the extreme right would seem to match this streetview image. There is a narrows just behind the camera which could have been the bridge site. 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, David Mack said:

The kink in the towpath wall and the gable on the extreme right would seem to match this streetview image. There is a narrows just behind the camera which could have been the bridge site. 

 

Certainly looks 'damm close'. You may have hit the nail on the head.

 

Camera location approximately where the gate is with the fence angled down into the water (by the house with the two chimneys on the left hand side)

[Mike Todd]

57 minutes ago, David Mack said:

The kink in the towpath wall and the gable on the extreme right would seem to match this streetview image. There is a narrows just behind the camera which could have been the bridge site. 

 

Where is it?

[magpie patrick]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

The kink in the towpath wall and the gable on the extreme right would seem to match this streetview image. There is a narrows just behind the camera which could have been the bridge site. 

 

There is a gable end of a building set below canal level in both pictures, which given all the other evidence (such as the distinctive outline of the hills behind the scene) suggests you are spot on

[Stroudwater1]

What no barriers to place for the locomotives safety? No wonder it’s gone. 
 

note the long arm coming off the top on “this side” I remember a number of these bridges where you went to open with some rope, slung it round and over the top then dangled from both ends of the rope. 
 

Mum and I together were sometimes not heavy enough to enable the bridge to open 🤣🤣

 

I doubt any are like that now. 
 

looks like that bridge had a longer balance arm to allow for the rope further away and more leverage?  Great picture

[Tony Brooks]

2 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

What no barriers to place for the locomotives safety? No wonder it’s gone. 

 

I expect the "locomotives" would have been gravity coming down laden and horse going back. There is also a fairly modern road bridge a bit back towards Llangollen plus the quarry closure that  has removed the purpose of the bridge.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

Where is it?

Alongside Llangollen Motor Museum as suggested by Tony in the post I was responding to.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.9841198,-3.1845504,3a,75y,284.99h,76.22t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGLMenoAsgmEPDfPR7X5a2A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e4

[David Mack]

Here it is on the 1880 6 inch map. The bridge seems to have gone by the 1901 map. Unfortunately the NLS doesn't have the 25 inch map for this area.

 

[booke23]

2 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

What no barriers to place for the locomotives safety? No wonder it’s gone. 
 

note the long arm coming off the top on “this side” I remember a number of these bridges where you went to open with some rope, slung it round and over the top then dangled from both ends of the rope. 
 

Mum and I together were sometimes not heavy enough to enable the bridge to open 🤣🤣

 

I doubt any are like that now. 
 

looks like that bridge had a longer balance arm to allow for the rope further away and more leverage?  Great picture

 

Yes, I imagine they all got converted to windlass operation in the 80’s. The very similar bridge at Froncysyllte operated like this in 1978 as demonstrated below! 

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by booke23

[Stroudwater1]

3 hours ago, booke23 said:

 

Yes, I imagine they all got converted to windlass operation in the 80’s. The very similar bridge at Froncysyllte operated like this in 1978 as demonstrated below! 

 

 

 

Thanks, never seen that video before. New steel locks, Dunton type windlass most peculiar constructed boats. Little or no queues too

 

Great memories 

[Mike Todd]

20 hours ago, David Mack said:

Here it is on the 1880 6 inch map. The bridge seems to have gone by the 1901 map. Unfortunately the NLS doesn't have the 25 inch map for this area.

 

Looking at 1901 on NLS Six Inch it is still there but gone by the 1953 edition. Although the 1901 still shows the tramway track, it stops just short of the canal whilst the earlier one you quoted shows it running right through to the 'main' rail line into Llangollen.

 

If you look closely (knowing what was once there) you can just make out the line of the track just north of the A542, and more clearly as what looks like a footpath to the west of the main road as it heads northwards.

[Ogwr]

The canal can't have been used much as it must have been a faff to break the tail and allow the bridge to pivot?

[David Mack]

6 minutes ago, Ogwr said:

The canal can't have been used much as it must have been a faff to break the tail and allow the bridge to pivot?

Why? The rails would already be cut at either end of the bridge deck. No more faff than any other lift bridge.

The bigger problem would probably have been misalignment of the rails on reclosing the bridge, with the potential for derailing of a rail waggon.

[magpie patrick]

19 minutes ago, Ogwr said:

The canal can't have been used much as it must have been a faff to break the tail and allow the bridge to pivot?

 

11 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Why? The rails would already be cut at either end of the bridge deck. No more faff than any other lift bridge.

The bigger problem would probably have been misalignment of the rails on reclosing the bridge, with the potential for derailing of a rail waggon.

 

I agree with both these - this is upstream of Llangollen where, as I understand it, there was never much navigation - they needed to be able to navigate but wouldn't do it very often

[enigmatic]

The pleasure boat apparently started in 1884, which may be connected to the apparent disappearance of the lift bridge on that section between 1880 and 1901...