The William
Edwards Bridge
Aberafan has had more than its share of devastation due to the river that
flows at its boundary with Port Talbot, the most destructive flood happened
on July 25th, 1768, St Mary’s church the Parish church of Aberafan
was flooded to a depth of over five feet as was the rest of the dwellings
of old Aberafan the populace had to flee for their lives unable to salvage
anything as the turbulent floodwater washed everything away agriculture
was hit very badly with standing crops washed out from the fields not
even when the floodwaters had subsided was any relief for the townsfolk
or farmers as a thick layer of mud and slime covered the whole area starvation
was starting to be the daily misery and disease was taking hold. The shops
stores and warehousing suffered being destroyed or their contents being
completely washed away the farmers lost crops and stocks of hay stored
to feed their cattle this was all swept away there was a real sense of
emergency with no help from outside in the offing. Traveling was made
very difficult as the towns bridges had also been washed away if it had
not been for the generosity of one of the towns industrialists there would
have been wholesale deaths amongst the poorest inhabitants their saving
angel was Thomas Mansel Talbot, Esq.
Every bridge had been washed away and soon after the devastation a new
bridge was built over the Afan this was a single arch stone bridge built
by William Edwards of Groeswen, near Caerphilly he was a celebrated and
self taught architect He was a also a Congregational minister at Groeswen,
he is most famous because of the bridge he built in Pontypridd at a very
dangerous stretch of the river, it took him three bridges to build each
one failed before he was successful, completing it in 1755. on this bridge
project he lost a substantial amount of money, William Edwards was born
in 1719 and died in 1789, but some the bridges he built still stand today.
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The Aberafan Riscar Bridge
The Risca Bridge so called because it was made at Risca Foundry the first
picture shows the name plate "Risca Foundry Co Engineers 1892 Newport
Mon".It lay derelict for years but was demolished early in 2006 to
make way for the new peripheral Road system.
.The second Picture Shows what remains of the rail bed the iron rails
ripped up long ago weeds and brush growing where once gleaming iron rails
carried the trains across the river. This is the old valley railway bridge
that crossed the river Afan Now derelict But built in 1892
It remained because of the supports it gave to the water pipes
And probably the expense Of removing it, this is part of the route the
coal trains used to bring the coal from the valley mines to the docks
many day trippers from the valley’s would remember this bridge as
their train crossed on its way to the seaside railway station in Aberafan,
the station and railway now long gone another victim of the Beaching cuts
The third Picture of the Risca bridge is a view taken upriver of the bridge,
this view taken from the upriver road bridge Shows the old disused railway
bridge but its structure still as sound as the last day it was used the
dressed stone pillars still sit strong and shows what craftsmanship can
produce, the stones dressed by long gone masons are still tight against
its neighboring stone the joints still firm a tribute to those men that
built the bridge over a hundred and fourteen years ago.
If we look we can see the large bend in the river at the Gasworks site.
The fourth picture of the Risca bridge shows a view taken from down river
of the bridge again we can see how strong the bridge looks,
The bridge built in 1892 was built ten years after the natural course
of the river was altered to accommodate industrial changes this bridge
is something that I have seen almost every day of my life a sad day when
i witnessed its demolition.
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The Velindre Bridge
This old railway bridge part of the Old Afan valley Railways system has
four Arches three crossing the river and the fourth crosses the Velindre
Roadway, in spite of the high wall at the bridge as seen in the picture,
the river waters in flood spill into the roadway blocking the road to
all traffic, where the old railbed used to be atop the bridge, is now
a footpath and cycle path again see the relevant picture this is used
by many as a route into the town center. the last of the Velindre Bridge
picture shows the view upriver from the bridge cycle path in the distance
can be seen the M4 Motorway high above the houses supported by massive
pillars, and one of the rivers footbridges also it looks like someone
has lost their tent to the rivers waters.
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Newbridge Road Bridge
Newbridge Road Bridge built to carry motor traffic
into the docks, it was opened for traffic on October 29th 1903 by Sir
Arthur P Vivien K.C.B, officials at the opening ceremony were also, His
Worship the Mayor Mr T A Burgess esq, The town clerk Mr T A Tennant esq,
The Engineer Mr Roderick esq. Representing the contractors Clark and company
of Cardiff.
Although the bridge still stands as sound as ever it has a neglected appearance
and was closed to traffic in the nineteen seventies.
The bridge has four pillars one on each corner of the roadway atop these
pillars each sported a gas lamp, this bridge used to be a fine sight to
behold the craftsmanship is very evident in its construction the riveted
iron plate box sections are as strong looking today as that day in 1903
when it was opened, the stonework is all of dressed stone, showing no
sign of joints in the stonework disintegrating, a tribute to those stone
masons that chiselled away at block stone to produce such even stonework
on the bridge. Many believe that this bridge should not be destroyed as
many of our other town bridges have been, but instead renovated and kept,
as a monument to the days of high activity at the docks and surrounding
works, the bridge was built to replace a wooden bridge structure, it was
built alongside this older bridge, which the remains of its wooden support
pillars can be seen in the river bed protruding out of the mud at low
water see the photograph in the bridge gallery pages.
The older wooden bridge at Newbridge road, used to carry a small railway
engine servicing the docks, it also serviced the yards of Mr Frankie Burk
A scrap metal dealer and builders supply these yards were situated some
yards upriver from the present dock gateway, on the town side of Harvey’s
lake (now filled in), this area used to be a hive of activity but now
is derelict land but plans are afoot to reopen this area when the peripheral
road is completed.
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Ynys-y-Gwas Bridge
This is a fairly new bridge
completed in the early 2000's it replaced an older bridge which itself
was not of any age but had become unsafe.
Church Lane Bridge
This Railway bridge spanned what was once Water
street and Church Lane, going over the market hall, this section was located
between the market and civic building and Woolworths Store one large arch
spanned Water street with Evans the pie shop on the town side and the
Railway Hotel on the beach side, that section now spans a walkway and
part of the bus centre whilst this section that had spanned Church lane
now only spans a walkway it is still used by main line railway engines.
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Unknown Bridge.
Prior to the three arch bridge we are all familiar
with: with its modern canopy, there was another bridge built at the spot
it occupies, a two arch bridge presumably it
replaced the William Edwards single span Bridge
built in 1782.This bridge was opened on 17th
September 1842, as far as we know it suffered the same fate as the previous
bridges washed away in the floods that were a common feature of the river
Afan.
The
Aberafan Bridge
This new bridge had three arches built in
about 1909. just recently in 2004 a modern style canopy was built over
the bridge in Aberafan, the bridge stands as firm as it ever did in spite
of recurring floods but we are luckier than those inhabitants of 1768
I remember two floods in the town between the 1940’s and the 1960’s
but the water never reached more than a couple of feet deep then work
started on the M4 Motorway and at the same time work started on river
defenses, the town has not been flooded since the new flood control measures
were built in the late nineteen sixties the waters of the Afan still flood
every year but only lap at the top of the retaining walls of the flood
defenses.
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