Restoration Of The Chain Bridge
Historic River Crossing to Be Restored
This piece has been released by The Chain Bridge Project
The future of one of Wales's best-known river crossings is to be handed over to the public and fully restored as part of a project that could be worth in excess of £100k.
The Llangollen chain bridge has forded the River Dee at Berwyn, just outside the town, since 1814 and over the years became a real tourist attraction as well linking the Llangollen Canal, Railway and A5 for the transportation of coal and slate.
Now, an agreement between the current owner and both Llangollen Town Council and Llantysilio Community Council will see the development of a restoration project for the bridge. It is intended to seek both private and public sector funding for the work, with the intention of seeing the bridge open to the public once again since its closure for safety reasons in 1984.
Stephanie Booth, who acquired the bridge as part of a package with the Chainbridge Hotel some 4 years ago, has always wanted to see the re-opening the historic river crossing at some stage but time has always been a problem.
It's been a bit like having a vintage car parked in your drive that you intend to restore one day but never seem to have the time to get round to it, said Stephanie.
What may happen in the future is also foremost in my mind. The bridge is safe whilst I am the owner, but property can change hands and there's no guarantee a future owner won't simply pull the bridge down, so all in all I'm delighted the combined councils will be taking it under there wings, she said.
The original river crossing at Berwyn was some 400 yards further up-stream, which could date as far back as Roman times. This crossing was used, however, by the Cistercian Monks of the nearby Valle Crucis Abbey up until its disillusionment in 1536.
The first true chain bridge was built by Exuperius Pickering in 1814, purely to transport coal and slate to the new A5 and save himself the hefty toll to cross Llangollen Bridge in the centre of the town.
Rust got the better of this bridge but it was quickly replaced by the famous railway and bridge engineer, Henry Robertson, who was also one of the owners of Brymbo Ironworks, who had acquired the bridge some years before.
This second construction succumbed to the exceptionally heavy flooding of the River Dee on 16th February 1928 to be replaced by the current bridge, built by Sir Henry's son, in the summer of 1929. All the metal parts of the bridge were once again produced at the now Brymbo Steel Works.
This is undoubtedly a very exciting development for the area. To have the historic chain bridge open once again can only be good for the community and tourism industry alike. The opportunity is clearly there to join up the canal and steam railway in a circular route but it also brings things like the Horseshoe Falls, Valle Crucis Abbey and of course the Victorian railway underpass with the WWI signatures into play.
"We are very grateful to Stephanie for her generous donation of the bridge and firmly believe its restoration will be the catalyst for these and other worthwhile developments in and around the area. It's also great that she wishes to stay involved, where time allows. " said Roger Cragg, Chair of Llantysilio Community Council.
How long this project will take is definitely in the hands of the potential funders, both public and private, whom we will be approaching over the next few weeks.
It will be exactly 80 years since work on the existing bridge began next year and it would be terrific if we could see it open to the public once more to coincide with this special anniversary, said Llangollen Town Mayor George Hughes.