Cardiff Bridge (also known locally as Canton Bridge) is the road bridge crossing the

River Taff The River Taff ( cy, Afon Taf) is a river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons; the Taf Fechan (''little Taff'') and the Taf Fawr (''great Taff'') before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. Its confluence with the R ...

at the approximate site of the original river crossing, close to

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle ( cy, Castell Caerdydd) is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top ...

in the centre of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales.

Early history

A bridge link crossing the Taff at Cardiff has existed since

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

times, though a safer river crossing beyond the tidal range was preferred at Llandaff, to the north. In 1582 the timber bridge was replaced by one built of stone, to the north of the current bridge and connecting to the town's Westgate. It was continually damaged by flooding and rebuilt in 1649, 1671 and 1720. When the Westgate was demolished in 1781 it was decided to relocate and rebuild the bridge. A narrow replacement was completed in 1796 (footpaths were later added supported by

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

s). In 1827 another huge flood swept away the bridge and traffic reverted to using the crossing at Llandaff. In 1859 a new stone bridge was built, incorporating parts of the earlier structure and with iron lattice railings. It was widened in 1877.

20th century

In 1930/1 the bridge was almost completed replaced with the currently existing bridge. This has broad arches made from

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

supported on stone pillars with a rusticated finish. Above each pier was a cenotaph-style obelisk holding a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

torch. The bridge was Grade II listed in 2002, being a good and original pre-World War II reinforced concrete bridge.

21st century

In 2014 segregated

cycle path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

s in each direction were constructed, separating cyclists from pedestrians and motor vehicles.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 51.4810, -3.1858, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Bridges completed in 1931 Bridges in Cardiff Bridges over the River Taff Concrete bridges in the United Kingdom Grade II listed bridges in Wales Rebuilt buildings and structures in Wales Road bridges in Wales

Early history

20th century

21st century

See also

References

External links