II. \VII.U\M EDWARDS, BRIDGE BUILDER. 273 



the beautiful *' rainbow bridge" liglitly spans the Taff 

 at Xe\\ bridp- to this day. 



Tin 1 singular inflexibility of purpose displayed by our 

 engineer in grappling with and overcoming the diffi- 

 culties encountered bv him in the erection of his first 

 bridge, became the subject of general, interest through- 

 out Wales. When it was finished and opened for public 

 traffic, and the news spread abroad that the extraordinary 

 arch of Pont-y-Prydd at last stood firm as the rocks on 

 which it rested, strangers flocked from all parts to view 

 it, and the Welsh people, as was natural, became proud 

 of their countryman. Employment flowed in upon him, 

 and he went on building bridge after bridge in all parts 

 of South Wales. Among the more important of the 

 later works of Edwards were the large and handsome 

 bridge over the river Usk, at the town of Usk, in Mon- 

 mouthshire; one of three arches, over the river Tame, 

 near Swansea; another, of one arch of 95 feet span, 

 over the same river near Morriston ; a third, with an 

 arch of 80 feet, at Pont-cer-Tame, several miles higher 

 u j> ; and Bettws and Llandovery Bridges, in the county 

 of Caermarthen, the latter of 84 feet span. He also 

 built Aberavon Bridge, in Glamorganshire, with an 

 arch of TO feet span; and Glasbury Bridge, of four 

 arches, over the Wye, near Hay, in Brecknockshire, 

 afterwards carried away by one of the floods so common 

 in the district. 



Edwards' 8 strong judgment and quick observant 

 faculties, ripened by experience, enabled him to intro- 

 duce many improvements in his bridges as lie grew 

 older. He flattened his arches, so as to render the 

 passage of vehicles over them more easy than in the 

 case of Pont-y-Prydd, the steepness on either side of 

 which was found to be so great an obstacle that it was 

 afterwards found necessary to supersede its use by a 

 more level bridge erected on modern principles. Hence 

 his later works presented a considerable improvement 



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