Bigsweir Bridge, Llandogo.
Region:
Red Wheel Site:
Transport Mode(s):
Address:
Postcode:
Visitor Centre:
Website:
Visit websiteBigsweir is a locality in the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which straddles the boundary between Gloucestershire in England and Monmouthshire in Wales. It is located about 2 miles north of Llandogo, 2 miles south of Whitebrook, and 3 miles west of St. Briavels. It is the Normal Tidal Limit (NTL) of the River Wye, and navigation below this point falls under the jurisdiction of the Gloucester Harbour Trustees.
There is no village at Bigsweir. However, it is known for its elegant cast iron road bridge, which was built in 1827 as part of the new turnpike road constructed up the lower part of the Wye valley between Chepstow and Monmouth. The bridge connects the English and Welsh sides of the river, with an abandoned toll house on the Welsh side.
It comprises a single arch of 50 metres, and was designed by Charles Hollis of London and cast at Merthyr Tydfil. Because of its narrow width, modern traffic is controlled by traffic signals at either end. The bridge is about 600 metres upstream of the ancient fishing weir and ford of Bigsweir, which is close to Bigsweir House.
Bigsweir was also the site of St. Briavels railway station, on the now disused Wye Valley Railway.
By Road: On the A466 between Chepstow and Monmouth.
Addison, Sir William, The Old Roads of England, Batsford, ISBN 0 7134 1714 5 (1980)
Albert, W., The Turnpike Road System in England 1663-1840, Cambridge University Press, ISBN O 5210 3391 8 (1972)
Barker, Theo, The Rise and Rise of Road Transport, 1700-1990, Cambridge University Press, ISBN-10 0521557739 (1995)
Codrington, Thomas, Roman Roads in Britain: Early Britain, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN-10 0548240310 (2007)
Davies, Hugh, Roads in Roman Britain, History Press, ISBN-10 0752425030 (2008)
Davies, Hugh, Roman Roads, Shire, ISBN-10 074780690X (2008)
Harrison, David, The Bridges of Medieval England: Transport and Society 400-1800, Oxford University Press, ISBN-10: 0199226857 (2007)
Hindle, P., Roads and Tracks for Historians, Phillimore & Co, ISBN-10: 1860771823 (2001)
Hindley, G., History of the Roads, Peter Davies, ISBN 0 8065 0290 8 (1971)
Jackson, Gibbard, From Track to Highway, Nicholson and Watson, ASIN B00085R4D8 (1935)
Jervoise, E., Ancient Bridges of England, Architectural Press, ASIN B00085PLDI (1932)
Johnston, David, An Illustrated History of Roman Roads in Britain, Spur Books, ISBN-10 0904978338 (1979)
Peel, J. H. B., Along the Roman Roads of Britain, Macmillan, ISBN-10: 0330239309 (1976)
Sheldon, G., From Trackway to Turnpike, Oxford University Press, ASIN B001N2GS2S (1928)
Smiles, Samuel, The Life of Thomas Telford Civil Engineer with an Introductory History of Roads and Travelling in Great Britain (1867), The Echo Library, ISBN-10: 1406805866 (2006)
Taylor, C., Roads and Tracks of Britain, Littlehampton Books, ISBN 0 460 04329 3 (1979)
Forgotten Relics - Listed Bridges and Viaducts