486 



BRIDGE. 



tht Ouse. 



Er:d:c 

 ovtr the 

 I'aaf. 



Biidsje Tbs centre arch of the bridge in Blenheim Park, 



~< is 101 If. 6in. span. 



In 1762, a single arch wai btr.lt upon the river 

 Tecs, at WirMoiu- in Yorkshire, from a design of Sir 

 Thomas Robinson, the span of which is 108 feet 9 

 inches. 



Bridge over A very fine bridge has been lately erected at Ferry 

 L5vi;ig?, in the same county, upon the river Ouse : it 

 consists of" three arches, the centre one 6/5 feet span, 

 the- width within the parapets 28 feet 6 inches. 



In South. Wales, the bridge over the river T.iaf, 

 near Lli'ntrissart, in Glamorganshire, is justly cele- 

 brated, both on account of its great span, and the 

 singular circumstances which attended its construc- 

 tion. In 171(5, William Edwards, a country mason, 

 undertook to build a bridge at that place. He built 

 one of three arches, and it was allowed to be well ex- 

 ted ; but, being in a mountainous district, the 

 torrents sometimes rise hastily to a height which 

 rr. list appear incredible to the inhabitants of flat 

 countries. One instance of this sort happened after 

 this bridge had stood about two years and a half, 

 when the torrent carried along with it trees, brush- 

 wood, hay, and whatever of this kind lay in its 

 way : these were entangled in the arches, and, cau- 

 sing the water suddenly to create a great head, the 

 bridge was swept away. As William Edwards had 

 given security to maintain the bridge for seven years, 

 he immediately set about rebuilding it ; but, in order 

 to avoid future injuries from similar torrents, he con- 

 structed one arch, the segment of a circle of which 

 the cord line was 140 feet, and the versed sine 35 

 feet. The arch was finished, but had not receired 

 the parapets, when the weight pressed in the haunches, 

 raised up the crown, and destroyed the arch. This 

 was in 1751. But William Edwards, possessed of 

 an uncommon degree of fortitude, resolved to rebuild 

 the arch of the same dimensions ; and it appears he 

 took his measures prudently ; for we have been in- 

 formed, by that excellent and respectable engineer 

 Mr Jessop, who was then a clerk with Mr Smeaton, 

 that Mr Edwards consulted that eminent man with 

 respect to rebuilding this large arch. Mr Jessop does 

 not recollect the advice which Mr Smeaton gave, but 

 the bridge was rebuilt in 1755 ; the chord line and 

 versed sine are the same as before, and the width across 

 is eleven feet : in each haunch or spandrel there are three 

 cylindrical arches quite across the bridge ; the lowest 

 is nine feet, the middle six feet, and the uppermost 

 three feet diameter. These, to avoid weight, are of 

 course left hollow ; and Mr Evans, a native of Wales, 

 who was afterwards chief engineer to the Royal Canal 

 in Ireland, informed Mr Jessop, that, in addition to the 

 cylinders being left hollow, the spaces between them 

 were filled up with charcoal. From the steepness of 

 the ascent on each side, and the narrowness across, 

 this bridge is more remarkable as an effort of art 

 than for the accommodation it affords. 



Bridges in Of late years, the building of bridges has been car- 



Scoiland. ried to a very great extent in Scotland. Upon the 



_ . river Teviot, immediately above its junction with the 



the Tcvioi r T wee ^ a ver y handsome stone bridge of three arches 



has been constructed from a design, and under the 



direction of Mr Elliot, an architect resident in Kelso. 



The middle arch is 65 feet span, and rises 17 feet ; 



the arches arc segments of circles, and the width over ' 



the parapets is 23 feet. There are coupled columns ' -~- 



over the piers, which are quite insulated ; and the 

 points of the piers are in the shape of Gothic arches. 

 It war, begun in 179-t, aod finished in 1795. About 

 4 years after the completion of this bridg-,-, another, 

 very elegant one was constructcdat Kelso, from a dc- K J' (] " f at 

 sign of Mr Ronnie, an eminent engineer. It is situs- K 

 ted immediately below the confluence of the Teviot 

 with the Tweed. It consists of 5 arches, each of 73 

 f'jct span, and 21 feet rise; they are of an elliptical 

 form, and the road over them is level. Over each 

 pier, and upon each abutment, are two small columns, 

 and an entablature runs along the whole of the 

 bridge. The columns are not insulated, b-'ing ' co- 

 lumns only ; the points of the piers are semicircular ; 

 the width over the parapets 26 feet. It was begun 

 in 1799, and finished in 1803. The characters of 

 those two bridges being rather gentle than bold, ac- 

 cord well with the beautiful scenery of the adjacent 

 banks of those two fine rivers. 



On the road from Berwick to Edinburgh, the Peas Pea bride 

 bridge erected over a deep dingle, is ahold work. It 

 consists of four arches ; the largest span is 55 feet, 

 and the height of the bridge is 12-1 feet. The archi- 

 tect was Mr David Henderson of Edinburgh. 



A large arch has been built at Aberdeen also over Bridge at 

 a dingle, through which there runs a small rill called Aberdeen 

 the Den Bilrn ; it forms a part of an improved ap- 

 proach to the city from the southwards. The ma- 

 gistrates had, in the year 1801, begun to construct a 

 bridge of three small arches, and had laid the foun- 

 dations of the abutments and piers for that purpose, 

 under the direction of their then superintendant of 

 city works, Mr Fletcher, when Mr Telford the en- 

 gineer passing that way on the service of government, 

 was desired by the magistrates to examine their in- 

 tended bridge. On considering the excellent granite 

 stone which was used, he prevailed with them to 

 abandon the scheme of having three arches. At their 

 desire he gave a plan of one arch of 150 feet span, 

 being larger than any stone arch in Britain, and other- 

 wise containing many singular features calculated to 

 prove what could be performed with Aberdeen gra- 

 nite. But however desirous the magistrates were to 

 exhibit the excellency of their favourite material, the 

 expense of this plan much exceeded their funds. Mr 

 Telford afterwards made a simpler design ; but in or- 

 der to save some masonry of the abutments which 

 had already been executed, they got their inspector 

 of the city works to reduce the span to 1 30 feet, of 

 which dimensions it has been executed. The rise is 

 29 feet, and breadth across the soffit k'3 feet. It is 

 still a magnificent arch, though of smaller span than 

 that of Mr Edwards over the Taaf. The difficulty 

 attending the construction of a large arch here, was 

 much lessened by its being placed on dry land. 



A much more arduous task has been accomplished Bridgt at 

 upon the river Dee, at Tongueland, near Kirkcud- Tongue- 

 bright, where there is about 10 feet of water in the land ' 

 lowest state of the riv*-r, above which the ordinary 

 spring tides rise 16 feet, and where, of course for a 

 large arch, a trussed center was required. The de- 

 sign was given by Mr Telford ; it is 118 feet span, 

 and the rise or versed sine 38 feet. The spaces be- 



