The Tintern Wireworks Branch was a short branch line on the

Wye Valley Railway The Wye Valley Railway was a standard gauge railway that ran for nearly along the Lower Wye Valley between the towns of Chepstow and Monmouth, crossing several times between Wales and England. Opened on 1 November 1876, it was leased to, and w ...

, crossing the

River Wye The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of Wal ...

between

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, Wales, and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. It was completed in 1874 and opened on 1 November 1876; the reason for the delay was that the Wye Valley Railway, into which the branch line fed, was not completed until the latter date. It closed in 1935 when the rails buckled in the heat of the summer.B. M. Handley and R. Dingwall, ''The Wye Valley Railway and the Coleford Branch'', 1982, The bridge that carried the

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

over the Wye, known as the Tintern Wireworks Bridge or Old Tramway Bridge, is now used as a footpath, but in 2022 is being temporarily closed for repair.

History

Wye Valley Amendment Act

In 1866 the

Company announced that it would not build a line through the village of Tintern, but by-pass it. To make up for this the company was forced to build a branch to the

wireworks Wire drawing is a metalworking process used to reduce the cross-section of a wire by pulling the wire through a single, or series of, drawing die(s). There are many applications for wire drawing, including electrical wiring, cables, tension-lo ...

on the other side of Tintern. The Wye Valley Amendment Act was passed on 14 June 1875 stating that ''the company would forever maintain the branch and junction in good repair''; as well as setting the regulations on running the line. The line was designed out by the engineering firm, S. H. Yockney, of London, and the construction works were carried out by the Isca Foundry Co. of

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

Abbey Wire and Tinplate Company

By August 1875, before the opening of the branch, the Abbey Wireworks Company had stopped trading. The line remained practically empty until the early 1880s when the works were taken over by the Abbey Wire and Tinplate Company; this venture was short lived and the works closed in 1901. The privately owned locomotive was sold and from then on the branch was only used by horses for the sawmills and turnery works in the village.

Closure

The line closed in 1935. Most of the tracks were lifted in 1941 and sent for scrap. The junction with the Wye Valley Railway was lifted in 1945 and was the last part of the branch to be lifted. The weigh house on the line survived until the late 1970s.

Tintern Wireworks Bridge

Today the bridge carrying the branch over the Wye is still standing, and now carries a public footpath. It is variously referred to as the Tintern Wireworks Bridge or the Old Tramway Bridge. John Newman, in his ''Gwent/Monmouthshire'' volume of the Pevsner Buildings of Wales, notes the bridge's "three steel-truss spans on two high, rock-faced,

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

."John Newman, ''Gwent/Monmouthshire'', The Buildings of Wales, 2000, Penguin, page 557,

Heritage status

The bridge is a

Grade II listed structure 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 ...

and has two listings, as is often the case with bridges that cross county borders; in this case, a Welsh designation by

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage s ...

for the section in Monmouthshire, and an English designation by Historic England for the section in Gloucestershire.

Restoration in 2022/23

An assessment of the bridge undertaken in 2021 by

Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council is a county council which administers the most strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. The council's principal functions are county road ...

found its condition to be unsafe due to severe

corrosion Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...

, and the bridge was closed to all vehicular traffic in October 2021. A restoration, costing £1.5M, is due to commence in 2022. The bridge will be closed to all traffic, including pedestrians, from late June 2022 for up to nine months, for the work to be carried out. The work will include removal of the timber deck and its replacement with a steel deck; strengthening of the structure, including the installation of new box beams; grit blasting and painting; and repointing the masonry supports.

In popular culture

The bridge has featured as a setting in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

comedy drama series ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

''.

Notes

References

External links

Information about the Wye Valley Railway
{{coord, 51.6994, -2.6813, region:GB-MON_type:landmark, display=title Industrial railways in Wales Transport in Monmouthshire History of Monmouthshire Closed railway lines in Wales Railway lines opened in 1876 Railway lines closed in 1935 Standard gauge railways in Wales