Temporary?

Eden Bridges 3

This series of bridges over the River Eden was going to be in some sort of order, but it looks like I’m going to be recording them in a more haphazard way. This was a footbridge high up the river. This was further down at Appleby. Now we are further down still, not far from Penrith.

This is Langwathby Bridge. The Eden now is much wider and this bridge is a footbridge and vehicle bridge that takes the Penrith to Alston road through into Langwathby. There was originally an arched sandstone bridge here, built around 1668. But 300 years later it was washed away in a huge storm.

One morning in March 1968, with a gale howling out of the West and flood waters thundering down the Eden, the 300 year old bridge collapsed without warning. An eighty-yard gap opened in the road and the remains of the bridge settled in a pile of rubble. You can see some of the original stonework in this picture. The full story, along with a picture of the stone bridge can be found here. An aerial photograph is here.

Work started soon after on the erection of a temporary bridge. The metal ‘temporary’ bridge, built in 1968 is the one you see here. It is still a single carriageway, with traffic lights at each end, and drivers still wait here for the lights to change as they have done for over 40 years. There are sometimes moves to have a replacement bridge built, but always the question of funding comes up and plans are shelved.

Apparently it is on record as the longest lasting temporary bridge in the country. Well, things do happen very slowly in Cumbria - if they happen at all!!