Llandrinio Bridge

Cadw's description

Location

Partly within the community area of Bausley with Crigion. The bridge provides a crossing for the Llanfyllin to Shrewsbury Road over the River Severn, superceding a ford a little to the north.

History

Road bridge. Erected 1769-1775 by Act of Parliament with monies borrowed on security to the anticipated toll revenue (tolls were collected until c.1862). Engineer probably John Gwynn of Shrewsbury.

Exterior

Three semicircular arches, the centre higher providing a peaked cambered roadway, reduced to 3.75m width. The arches, spanning 45m, have a plain inner ring, followed by a ring of raised and chamfered voussoirs. Piers have triangular cutwaters rising to a wide band, continued up as shallow pilaster, against which the pier is swept into an attached ball finial. Square band at the base of the parapet, which develops into a cornice over the piers. Three course parapet with hog backed coping, bearing a roughly inscribed date 1775 on one pier. The ends of the parapets are splayed out to rectangular terminal piers.

Scheduled Ancient Monument Mg 46

Reason for designation

An interesting and elegant example of work probably by John Gwynn, the engineer of the English Bridge at Shrewsbury and Magdalen Bridge at Oxford.