The Denham Suspension Bridge, also known as the Garraway Stream Bridge is a
footbridge
A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...
in
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
linking
Mahdia to
Bartica
Bartica, Essequibo, is a town on the left bank of the Essequibo River in Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region 7), at the confluence of the Cuyuni and Mazaruni Rivers with the Essequibo River in Guyana. It is the regional capital of Cuyuni-Mazaruni.
Considere ...
. This
suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...
was constructed over the
Potaro River
The Potaro River is a river in Guyana that runs from Mount Ayanganna area of the Pakaraima Mountains for approximately before flowing into the Essequibo River, Guyana's largest river. The renowned Kaieteur Falls is on the Potaro.
Features
Nine ...
in an area known as Garraway Stream by a Scottish civil engineer and general contractor, John Aldi,
on 6 November 1933.
The namesake for the bridge was the Governor of British Guiana (1930–1935), Sir
Edward Brandis Denham
Sir Edward Brandis Denham (1876 – 2 Jun 1938) was a British colonial administrator. He served as Governor of the Gambia (1928–1930), British Guiana (1930–1935) and Jamaica (1935–1938).
Life
Edward Brandis Denham was educated at Ma ...
(1876–1938), who opened the bridge
with golden scissors according to the ''
Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
''.
The bridge and path was meant to shorten the journey to the Potaro gold fields by five days.
Miners would later call the bridge, the
Cassandra Crossing.
In January 2020, the bridge was rehabilitated and reopened for light vehicles up to 10 tonnes.
The bridge has been declared a regional monument.
See also
*
List of bridges in Guyana
Guyana is known as the "Land of many rivers", so bridges are an important aspect of the country's transportation infrastructure. Guyana suffers from infrastructural weakness, and many bridges were poorly built or have failed to receive proper main ...
References
External links
The Bridge to El Dorado: The Story of the Denham Suspension Bridgeby For the Culture Guyana
Bridges completed in 1933
Bridges in Guyana
{{Guyana-bridge-struct-stub