23834

 

II  

Designated  

27/07/2000  

27/07/2000  

Bridge 106 over the Brecknock & Abergavenny Canal including Iron Sign  

 

Monmouthshire  

Llanelly  

 

Gilwern  

323711  

215194  

 

Isolated location, some 1 km north-west of Gilwern.  

Transport  

 

Built 1797 by Thomas Dadford, engineer. In 1792, the Act for the Monmouthshire Canal was passed: in the same year, the promoters of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal were proposing a canal to run separately, from Brecon to Newbridge. By October 1792 it was resolved to link directly to the proposed Monmouthshire Canal rather than the river Usk, and Thomas Dadford, engineer, was asked to survey a suitable route from Pontypool to Brecon. Work began early in 1797 with the aqueduct and embankment at Gilwern, and by November 1797, the eight-and-a-half mile (13.7 kilometre) section from Gilwern to Llangynidr was open. A further twelve mile section to Talybont was open by February 1799, and on Christmas Eve 1800, the final link to Brecon was opened. After 1798, Thomas Dadford was replaced with Thomas Cartwright, who engineered the extension of the canal from Gilwern to Llanfoist 1802-05. By February 1812 the canal had connected to the Monmouthshire Canal at Ponymoile, and the wharves at Brecon and Gilwern had been extended. The engineer for this section was William Crosley. After the Newport and Pontypool Railway was promoted, the canals were in decline. The Brecknock and Abergavenny Company made several unsuccessful overtures to various railway companies, but by 1865 had sold out to the Monmouthshire Canal Company. In 1880, the Monmouthshire Canal Company merged with the Great Western Railway. The last toll on the canal was taken in February 1933.  

Rubble sandstone construction. Semi-elliptical arch with stone voussoirs; projecting keystone. Humped parapet splayed out to square piers; slab copings. To north-west is long retaining wall for footpath, with vertical stone-slab stile. Tall iron lozenge-shaped sign stands at SW corner of bridge erected by the Great Western Railway Co. to restrict heavy loads. Sign reads ‘Motor Car Act 1886 and 1903. Notice this bridge is insufficient to carry a heavy motor car the registered axle weight of any axle which exceeds (blank) tons or the registered axle weight of the several axles of which exceed in the aggregate (blank) tons or a heavy motor car drawing a trailer if the registered axle weight of the several axles of the heavy motor car and the axle weights of the several axles of the trailer exceed in the aggregate (blank). Great Western Railway Ltd. Paddington Station. London’.  

 

Listed as a significant element of the engineering works associated with the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal.