Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Summary Description
Reference Number
14090
Building Number
Grade
II
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
30/09/1981
Date of Amendment
31/05/2002
Name of Property
Towpath Bridge of Glamorganshire Canal about 50m north of junction with Forest Farm Road
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Cardiff
Community
Whitchurch
Town
Cardiff
Locality
Whitchurch
Easting
314327
Northing
180435
Street Side
Location
About 50m north of the junction with Fforest Farm Road and 300m west of Whitchurch Hospital.
Description
Broad Class
Transport
Period
History
This bridge is dated 1851, but see below. The Glamorganshire Canal was built by a consortium of Merthyr Tydfil businessmen, led by the ironmaster, Richard Crawshay, to ease the carriage of their products down to Cardiff and the sea. It opened in 1794 and was immediately very successful. It rapidly became very overcrowded and eventually was given competition by the Taff Vale Railway which ran alongside from 1841. Despite this the canal continued to flourish for most of the C19 but traffic then declined rapidly after the railways opened new coal docks at Roath and Barry in c1890. The canal finally closed in 1942 and is now mostly under the main Cardiff-Merthyr road. This bridge, despite being dated 1851, could well be contemporary with the opening of the canal, note the similar bridge (qv) about 500m south. The side with the curved top may have been replaced in 1851 after being broken.
Exterior
Cast-iron towing path bridge with stone abutments over an overflow from the Glamorganshire Canal into the Melingriffith Feeder. Cast iron road with trellis iron parapets. A flat parapet with coping on the Feeder side and with a bow-shaped parapet without coping on the Canal side. This latter was probably to allow tow ropes to pass more easliy as this section has a widened stretch for a winding hole. Compare with the similar bridge about 500m south beside Melingriffith Pump.
Interior
Reason for designation
Included as an attractive structure of special technological interest and associated with an important canal.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]
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