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Mill Bridge |
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Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire KAC33.35 |
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KandAC mile 33
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Mill Bridge from the westward.
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The bridge carries a minor road from Great Bedwyn across the canal
towards the small village of Wilton southwards.
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The bridge is brick built; 33 miles 35 chains from Reading.
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headroom |
10ft7ins |
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depth of water |
4ft6ins |
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Skew brickwork under Mill Bridge.
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The bridge is a skew bridge, and is said to be the first of its kind,
built 1796. John Rennie, the canal's engineer, was, perhaps, the first
engineer to experiment with the design of skew brickwork. The
application of the idea at this bridge is imperfect, one author
comments:-
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... the whole thing is a mess ...
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Mill Bridge from the eastward.
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Plate girder railway bridge north of Mill Bridge.
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Over the bridge, northwards from the towpath side, the road crosses
the railway and comes to a T junction. Tucked away in bushes and trees
at the junction is 'Canal Mason's Cottage' (I found no sign on the
house to say it is called that). This was built of local flints and
Bath stone by one of the Lloyd Family, master masons based in Great
Bedwyn. The design is said to have been copied from a mason's
build-your-own manual. The Lloyd Family were employed in much of the
canal building locally.
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There was an adjoining stonemason's yard served by a small wharf on
the towpath side (look at the layout of the hedge to see where it
was).
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Kennet and Avon Scrapbook 2000
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