Footbridge North West of Leighton Farm

Cadw's description

Location

Located approximately 0.5km SSW of Leighton church and reached across three fields from Leighton Farm. The bridge crosses a small stream.

History

Early 1850s and carrying a water pipe across a stream. The pipe fed water to a bone mill where ground bone and manure were mixed with water and pumped up to slurry tanks on the hillside to E of Leighton Farm, for redistribution as fertiliser. An integral part of Leighton Farm, the model farm of the Leighton Estate, which was acquired by John Naylor 1846-47. Naylor subsequently embarked on an ambitious programme of building, which included Leighton Farm, which was largely completed in the mid 1850s. He continued to extend and improve the Estate until his death in 1889. His grandson, Captain J.M. Naylor, sold the Estate in 1931, when Leighton Farm was bought by Montgomeryshire County Council.

Exterior

Single-span bridge with a segmental arch and flat deck. Of brick with stone coping, but without parapet.

Reason for designation

The Leighton Estate is an exceptional example of high-Victorian estate development. It is remarkable for the scale and ambition of its conception and planning, the consistency of its design, the extent of its survival, and is the most complete example of its type in Wales. The bridge NW of Leighton Farm is an integral part of the Estate development and is an important surviving component of the recycling system introduced at Leighton whereby advanced technology was employed in an effort to revolutionise agricultural techniques.