242 THE NEW BRIDGE ACROSS THE PLYM. 



should pay for it themselves ; it being, as the econo- 

 mists think, more to please the fancy for novelty, 

 than from any necessity, that a new edifice was re- 

 quired ; happily for the public who have to travel 

 over the bridge, which may be now called the Old 

 Bridge, the civil engineers, (for Mr. James Rendel 

 was also consulted) were of opinion that though the 

 old bridge would stand for many years (with the 

 exception of the parapet walls) if the foundation 

 remained untouched, yet, if, by widening, the facing- 

 walls of the bridge were disturbed, which must have 

 been done in order to give the bridge the required 

 inclination, they would not answer for its stability, 

 nor would they recommend it. Thus we escaped a 

 patch-work job, which after a few years would have 

 ended in its being taken down and a new edifice 

 erected. The proposition for an iron structure was 

 abandoned, though it would have admitted of a 

 more convenient diagonal line across the river than 

 a stone bridge is capable of, but a preference was 

 shewn for the produce of our own county granite 

 and limestone : and as to the expense of it, a com- 

 promise was effected, the county paying £700., 

 towards it, and the remainder being paid out of the 

 Turnpike funds, which the Trustees are by Parlia- 

 ment authorized to do. 



This edifice, as is seen in the engraving, is to consist 

 of three arches only, the centre arch being 22ft., in 

 span, and each of the side arches 20ft. The width 

 of road-way over the bridge is to be 24ft., clear of 

 the parapets, the old road-way having been 10ft. 

 only, and to expand to fifty two feet road-way at 

 the western end, giving therefore ample space for one 

 carriage passing another at whatever speed they may 

 be traveUing. Mr. Green has entirely succeeded 

 therefore in procuring for the public a safe and con- 

 venient bridge, instead of the dangerous one which 

 has hitherto existed there, adapted perhaps to the 

 exigencies of the times in which it was erected, when 

 such a vehicle as a stage-coach was unknown in this 



