We have friends with a small house in Overmonnow, just over the Monnow from Monmouth town centre, who very kindly let us stay there from time to time. It is a lovely place to relax, surrounded by beautiful countryside, and with the Wye on the doorstep. It is not somewhere Bill ever came, and so Pont Trefynwy – Monnow Bridge – has never featured as Bridge of the Month.
Old Leckwith Bridge is II* listed and scheduled, but badly neglected. A planned development may be positive for it in general, though brings with it an unsympathetic new road bridge neighbour.
Yarton Road Bridge suffered a wingwall collapse in February 2023. A train hit the debris, and the RAIB investigation report was published early February. This is a review of the report. There is a lot to think about.
Heather and I spent the weekend of 20 October in Avignon with a wonderful group of enthusiasts for old bridges. The main subjects of interest were Pont Saint-Bénézet (Pont d’Avignon) itself, Pont du Gard, and Pont Saint Esprit. I’ll get to each of those over the next few months. This time, I'm looking at Pont Julien, a well preserved Roman bridge dated to 3 BCE, which we took in as a side trip on the way back to the airport.
Over the weekend of 7-8 October 2023, a section of wing and spandrel wall collapsed at Plessey Viaduct. This is a very serious issue, and it seems reasonable to devote the overdue September Bridge of the Month newsletter to it.
That end of August trip took us to the wonderful Duddon Valley in the Lake District. The area is littered with masonry bridges, but not many got enough attention to make it into Bridge of the Month. This little one, built 30 years ago by the owners of the house we stayed in, is worth a look.
The ruined Monastery Katholiko in Crete has a spectacular arch, providing not only a crossing over the gorge, but also a gathering space otherwise missing from the landscape.
Our Easter travels took us to West Linton, a rich vein to mine as far as bridges of the month are concerned. First up, the bridge carrying the A702, the main road from the west borders to Edinburgh, over Westwater. It is a fine bridge in its own right, but of special interest because it was closed by severe flood damage in January 2023.
Grosvenor Bridge in Chester has the honour, unusual among bridges, of being Grade I listed. A remarkable feat in 1830, it remained the longest single span for 30 years.
Old Bridge, in Bridgend, may be medieval in part – but if so mostly in the part that is enclosed between or beneath two buildings and inaccessible. A leak here in 2015 gave a glimpse of a long hidden span.
Pontsarn Viaduct, on the edge of Merthyr Tydfil, was built in the 1860s to carry the Brecon and Merthyr Railway over the Afon Taf Fechan, which flows here in a fairly steep sided valley. It is a spectacular structure, in need of some TLC.
A visit to friends in beautiful Northumberland gave the opportunity to visit one of the "at risk" Historic Railways Estate bridges. A fine skew bridge carrying a little-trafficked lane over the former Alnwick to Corhill (Coldstream) line, AKC/99 Rugley Railway Bridge was the subject of an odd assessment claiming a 3 tonne GVW limit, but shows no load related damage. Surely some mistake?
In 2003, Bill had a large part of his pancreas removed, in an operation that ten years earlier would have been impossible. While “convalescing”, he designed and led construction of an unusual bridge. Off-site construction methods meant final build could be be undertaken in about an hour, and without centring. Careful design and use of jigs meant even the off-site work could be undertaken using domestic tools and enthusiastic but non-professional labour.
Bridge of the Month 142 is Bill Harvey himself, in the form of a short autobiography written by Bill a few months ago. This concentrates on the personal and family side of his life, which will be less familiar to BoM readers than his professional achievements. The latter are also more likely to be covered elsewhere.
