Waterloo Bridge ( cy, Pont Waterloo) is an early

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

bridge, spanning the

River Conwy , name_etymology = , image = Boats in River Conwy.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = Boats in the river estuary at Conwy , map = , map_size = , map_caption = , push ...

Betws-y-Coed Betws-y-coed (; '' en, prayer house in the wood'') is a village and community in the Conwy valley in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located in the historic county of Caernarfonshire, right on the boundary with Denbighshire, in the Gwydir Forest. ...

, in

Conwy county borough Conwy County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) is a county borough in Wales. It borders Gwynedd to the west and south, and Denbighshire to the east. Other settlements in the county borough include Abergele, Betws-y-Coed, Colwyn Bay, Conwy, ...

, north-west

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

The bridge is located about half a mile south-east of the village. It was built by the civil engineer

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...

. An inscription on the arch records that it was constructed in the year of the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

, but although designed and constructed in 1815, its erection was not completed until the following year. It was raised as part of building the road from London to Holyhead (now the A5). The bridge is made wholly from

, apart from the stone bastions, and was only the seventh such bridge to be built. In 1923, the bridge's masonry abutments were refurbished, and its superstructure was strengthened by encasing the inner three ribs in concrete. A reinforced cantilevered concrete deck was also added, which provided extra space for new footways; the cast iron parapet railings were re-erected on the outside of the new footways. In 1978, a new reinforced concrete deck was added and the masonry abutments were also strengthened. In May 1996, the bridge was

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

as "a highly important and imaginatively-designed iron road bridge by Thomas Telford, engineer, a significant example of early iron technology".

References

* Quartermaine ''et al.'' (2003) ''Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road: The A5 in North Wales'', Council for British Archaeology

External links

* {{Structurae, id=20002244, title=Waterloo Bridge Betws-y-Coed Bro Garmon Bridges in Conwy County Borough Road bridges in Wales Bridges completed in 1815 Cast-iron arch bridges in Wales Grade I listed bridges in Wales Bridges by Thomas Telford Grade I listed buildings in Conwy County Borough

See also

References

External links