The prompt for Sepia Saturday 588: "a covered bridge going to who knows where"
I can't recall that I've ever been on a covered bridge like that one. However, in the past, I have been on a lot of old railways and steam trains, because of my dad's love of them. Most of our family holidays (by car) back in my teens, both in Sweden and in Britain, involved visits to various railway museums and other remains of old railways and station houses.
The combination of railway + bridge brought back one such memory in particular: From Devil's Bridge in Wales, visited on a family road trip in England and Wales in 1974.
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| Postcard (1974) |
We went there by steam train from Aberystwyth, through the Vale of Rheidol:
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| Ticket (1974) |
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| Postcard (1974) - Rheidol Valley |
I'm afraid the only photo of my own from Devil's Bridge is not really blog material - even after an attempt to enhance it digitally - but here it is, anyway:
It shows my parents (well, dad's cap and mum's jacket) having climbed down to some lower platform beneath the bridge, to look down on the river (Mynach) - and perhaps also see the construction of the bridge(s) from below.
Wikipedia is more helpful when it comes to reminding me of details:
The bridge is unique in that three separate bridges are coexistent, each
one built upon the previous bridge. The previous structures were not
demolished. The top one (from 1901) is an iron bridge. Beneath it are two older stone bridges, the oldest one from medieval times. This Wiki photo shows the construction more clearly than the old postcard:
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| Photo from Wikimedia Commons (geograph.org.uk 2005) |
According to folklore, the first bridge was built by the Devil - hence the name.
According to legend, the original bridge was built after an old woman lost her cow and saw it grazing on the other side of the river. The Devil appeared and agreed to build a bridge in return for the soul of the first living thing to cross it. When the bridge was finished, the old woman threw a crust of bread over the river, which her dog crossed the bridge to retrieve, thus becoming the first living thing to cross it. The devil was left with only the soul of the dog.
Besides the postcards in my album, I have another souvenir to remind me of the visit to Devil's Bridge - a piece of jewelry I bought in a gift shop there. I guess one reason it has stuck in my mind where I bought it is the contrast between the name of the place vs the item itself: a Celtic cross. It is one I have worn quite a lot over the years, as it has a very clever design - it can be used both as a pendant and as a brooch.
What an amazingly strange place! Why did they not demolish the previous ones?
ReplyDeleteGinny, my guess is they probably found it helpful to keep the older ones while building the new ones - and unnecessary to tear them down after. Not to mention they even became a major tourist attraction! :)
DeleteAn amazing bridge, which was featured in the Welsh drama "Hiterland." The three-layer photo is quite something!
ReplyDeleteWhere can people find Hiterland? Do you recommend it?
DeleteSmkelly8, the title of the drama series (from 2013-16) is Hinterland (with a n). There is a Wikipedia article about it. I have a feeling I may have seen it but I'm not quite sure (maybe I only read about it). Googling it now it seems it has been on Netflix, but was recently removed from there.
DeleteThat is an amazing bridge. I find I use quite a few photos that are not up to standard, but they hold a memory and still convey some bit of information.
ReplyDeleteKathy, a lot of my old colour photos have sadly faded into obscurity over the decades. After another look at the photo enlarged now, I'm not even sure the woman is my mum (I can't recall her having had a jacket like that). I still think man in the white cap is my dad, though. Not really important - I still agree even bad photos can help bring back memories!
DeleteI don't think I have ever seen such a three-tiered bridge. It must have been relatively difficult to access the first bridge, get low down and then back up on the other side.
ReplyDelete"The only steam on British Rail"!
Meike, the Wikipedia article does seem to confirm both that it's unique and that the last bridge "eliminated the slope in the roadway".
DeleteI'm surprised that it was the only steam train left of British Rail. After Beeching's cuts there were precious few passenger services left anywhere. The last passenger steam mainline passenger service on BR was 1968 but after that the ban was lifted to enable individual lines with 'enthusiasts' to run steam services. There are quite a few in Britain now.
ReplyDeleteGraham, there were quite a few steam trains run by 'enthusiast' already in 1974 - I have more proof of that in the same photo album of mine! ;)
DeleteBefore I moved away from home (at age 20), I had been on a lot more steam trains than 'modern' trains, because of my dad's keen interest in them...
The bridge is great.
ReplyDeleteThe Celtic cross pin is beautiful
A lovely post of happy family memories and local history. There is also a Devil's Bridge over the River Lune in Kirby Lonsdale on the Cumbia/Yorkshire Dales border. My parents got engaged there in 1938 and it remained a favourite outing of theirs. They were married for 61 years.
ReplyDeleteScotSue, yes, another Wiki article tells me there are at least eight bridges by that name in the UK alone, and several more elsewhere in the world. All of them with some similar folktale attached. And indeed, the construction of bridges in dangerous places before modern engineering and technology must have seemed magical... (Still does, really!)
DeleteA nice choice for this weekend. I'm very impressed that you saved a ticket of your visit. Old photos persist in albums and shoeboxes, but bus and train tickets are real ephemeral items. I like how each generation of builders decided to save the older bridge. I don't think that would be done in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteMike, that ticket (and quite a few others, from holiday trips) is firmly glued into my old photo album together with a mix of postcards bought + my own amateur photos, and notes about dates etc. A habit I inherited from my mum and kept up until I switched to digital photography and started blogging instead...
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