The Bridges over the Usk on a Fonmag Walk, 29th June 2021

 The Bridges over the Usk on a Fonmag Walk, 29th June 2021

Edith McCarron

If it wasn’t for the tidal properties of the Usk we would not need so many bridges so Newport is in a very unique situation and also so many of them have won awards. We need the bridges because the Usk has the largest recorded tidal range for a city anywhere in the world and is tidal as far as Newbridge on Usk. The name probably came from the Welsh 'Wysg' meaning water. The Romans called it Isca.

The Usk Railway Bridge

Copyright: Ace McCarron

It was opened to traffic in 1850. It crosses the River Usk in an east - west direction, carrying the Great Western Main Line. However,  the original bridge was constructed for the South Wales Railway and was designed by the railway engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Brunel's viaduct, was primarily constructed of creosote-treated timber and suffered a catastrophic fire near completion, on 31^st May 1848,  resulting in a substantial delay due to rebuilding. Brunel’s redesigned structure used considerably more wrought iron in place of wood, and included the first use of the now-common bow-string-shaped girder. This is a steel, concrete, or timber beam or girder shaped in the form of a bow from which vertical girders are suspended to the deck below. 

The Brunel bridge is not the bridge used today

During the late 1880s, a second bridge was constructed alongside the first, which when compared with the first bridge benefitted from a simpler design. During the 1910s, the second bridge was extended to accommodate a quadruple track enabling the original bridge to be retired in 1925. During 2019, the lines across the second bridge were electrified as part of the upgrade of the Great Western Main Line. You can also access the Fonmag Blog accessed via the website which has an interesting post by Richard Frame about the tunnel construction needed to enable the line to move on to Cardiff.

Newport's early road bridge 

Coxe's Tour in Monmouthshie Vol. 1. Illustration by
Sir Richard Colt Hoare.
'Bridge and Castle at Newport'

The first stone bridge was a bridge of five arches, erected in the year 1800 by David Edwards the son of  William Edwards who built the famous Pontypridd arched bridge. It was widened and improved in 1866 by adding footpaths on both sides.

The original foundation stone bearing the inscription "This bridge was erected at the expense of the County by David Edwards and his two sons William and Thomas was set by mistake onto the stonework of Caerleon Bridge which was also constructed by the Edwards family. 

See Peter Browns' Newport's Town Bridge, The First Stone Bridge At Newport (1900-1927) in Newport Past

http://www.newportpast.com/bridges/town_bridge/stone_1.php

The Clarence Road Bridge

Newport Bridge: Edith McCarron looking east

The Bridge we see here is relatively new dating from 1927 but there would have been a wooden bridges from medieval times and of course ferries. In 1911 the Town Council sought designs for a new replacement bridge. In 1913 Houdini jumped off the former bridge. See the  Folk of the Foot Bridge post below.  In December 1923 a decision was made to proceed immediately with the construction of the new bridge, partly as a scheme to find work for the unemployed. To best achieve this new construction a temporary wooden bridge was erected alongside it and all power and gas lines were re-routed onto it. Even the town's tram lines and their accompanying overhead power system were moved over. The old bridge was then demolished and the new one erected. On 22 June 1927 the new bridge was complete and opened to traffic by the Transport Minister Wilfrid Ashley.  The Foundation Plaque on the middle of the north side of the bridge gives the opening date of 1927 and the names of the councilors and engineers.

Foundation Plaque: Ace Mc Carron

Newport Bridge also known as Clarence Bridge
Copyright; Ace McCarron looking east

Newport Bridge also known as Clarence Bridge
Copyright; Ace McCarron looking west

The wharfs

Looking across to the East bank of the Usk, one can see the site of the wharf where the paddle steamers berthed. On Monday 11th August 1856, John Frost returned to Newport for the first time in 17 years. He arrived from Bristol about 3pm that afternoon on a steam packet named the Swift. He landed on the wharf on the east side of Newport and a group of men met him with a carriage, and removed the horses and dragged him over the bridge and through the town. This was a typical greeting showing respect at the time. Scroll down to see more on a blog by Ray Stroud on this event. 

The Blue Plaque place on the bridge by Newport Civic Society states that the wharf was closed in the 1950s. 

Looking at the Monmouthshire Merlin for 1861 Bristol and Newport Steam Packet Company operated a Screw Packet from Beaufort Wharf. This would have been close to Screw Packet lane on the West side. The steamer went to Milford and Cork. At Rodney Wharf a paddle steamer went to Cardiff, Bristol Ilfracombe, Bideford and Lynmouth. The ‘paddlers’ were well-suited to cope with the huge tidal range of both the Usk and Severn Estuaries. Their flatter bottoms meant they stayed in service long after paddles gave way to propellers elsewhere on the sea.

Newport City Footbridge was designed for pedestrians and bicycles

                                  The Footbridge: copyright Ace McCarron

The striking A-frame elements of the bridge are formed of two pairs of tapered tubular steel masts that support a 145-metre-long aluminium deck. The deck is totally supported from the west bank of the river. Formed of five elements that correspond to the cable stay pattern overhead, the deck transfers loads to ground level through two cables, each 120 mm in diameter, which act as stays for the tall masts.

All components were pre-fabricated and assembled, allowing the bridge to be erected in just over one week. The crane-like masts recall the river’s history of commercial trading  and allow the deck to float 4.1 m above the mean tide level – a significant consideration for the great tidal fluctuations of this body of water. Mass dampers to masts and deck mitigate undue movement and are the result of extensive vibration analysis to ensure public safety.

Edith McCarron

Designed by Grimshaw with Arup as engineers the bridge won a design awards from the following: British Construction and Steelworkers Association; the George Gibby Award 2007 by the Institution of Civil Engineers in Wales; the regeneration award by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Wales as well as being highly commended by Wales Business Insider for the best regeneration project of 2007.They also designed the Newport Station Bridge which was finished in time for the 2010 Ryder Cup golf competition in Wales. 

See https://grimshaw.global/projects/newport-city-footbridge/ for more pictures of the footbridge. 

The George St Bridge

Edith McCarron

The construction of  the George Street Bridge began in 1862 and it opened on 9 April 1964 before the M4 Bridge was ready for traffic. The bridge was built between 1962 - 64, to the design of Mott, Hay and Anderson. It was the first example of a cable-stayed cantilever construction bridge in the United Kingdom. The bridge is 52 metres (171 ft) high, 26 metres (84ft) wide, and 153 metres (500ft) in length incorporating a four lane carriageway and two cycle / foot paths.

Before 1964 – Newport's main street was often blocked with traffic and the Clarence Bridge had to accommodate the traffic flow. The traffic jams were made worse by shale lorries going to the Llanwern Steel Works construction site. Two people on the walk remembered the queues on the A48 through Newport and both were going from the Cardiff  side on a family outing to buy plums in Gloucestershire an annual event for many in those days.  

 

Edith McCarron

Here we are at the end of the walk from which we could see the City Bridge and the Transporter Bridge in the distance.

 

 

 

City Bridge

Newport’s new 190m steel arch bridge carries the Southern Distributor Road over the River Usk connecting Duffryn on the west side of Newport and the M4 (J24) at the Coldra Roundabout.

Significantly this landmark bridge is located between the Transporter Bridge (one of only two of its type still in operation) and the George Street Bridge (the first cable stayed highway bridge in the UK). Accordingly a steel arch was developed in order to add to the City’s family of different bridge types and celebrate Newport’s industrial steel heritage. In 2005 the bridge was recognised by The Structural Steel Design Awards. for its Bow string Art Design

The judges said of the bridge: "The Usk crossing symbolises the best in British bridge engineering. It combines an elegant design, high quality fabrication and innovative construction. Newport has gained not only another much-needed river crossing, but has gained an elegant steel structure in the process." 

Transporter Bridge which opened in 1906 could be seen in the distance. 

Our members discussed if they had been brave enough to walked along the top walkway. It is now closed and the site will remain closed until Spring 2023. Our members looked forward to it reopening following a restoration and the construction of a new visitor centre. 

https://www.newport.gov.uk/heritage/en/Transporter-Bridge/Transporter-Bridge.aspx

Visit to the Bridge July 2021 closed until 2023

Copyright: Ace McCarron

Copyright: Ace McCarron

       

This video was created in 2020 when it reopened after lockdown. 

There has been plenty of focus on the Transporter Bridge. Click on the link below to see more information.

Source

https://www.newport.gov.uk/heritage/en/Transporter-Bridge/Transporter-Bridge.aspx

Back in Time: The mid 20th Century - 1954

The Usk from Newport Bridge; Alfred Edwin Morris (1894-1971)

He was the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales.

Copyright: Newport Museum and Art Gallery

 

Not a bridge in sight in this painting created in 1954, but in the distance would have been the Transporter Bridge which opened in 1909.