Tadcaster : Bridge Repairs

I awoke this morning with extreme pain in my neck and shoulders - which I suspect is a result of yesterdays dog vs. rabbit incident which nearly rendered me armless! I think it may be a whiplash type of injury. Some anti-inflammatory tablets and some painkillers soon took the edge off thankfully and we were able to go out and enjoy the sunshine and blue skies at 06:30!

I was on rabbit alert myself today, but fortunately none were spotted.

Later in the morning I went to Tadcaster to see the progress of repairs on the flood damaged bridge. Lots of preparatory work has been done, but the recent rain has swollen the river again and not much was going on.

I found a fascinating document in the North Yorks website which has been produced about the bridge, detailing its history. It was produced as part of the repair surveys (here if you are interested).

One of the things I found interesting is that the original structure was widened on the upstream side in the late 18th century and it is the newer part that that has failed. In this shot you can see the original lines of the archways - where the new structure was joined up directly to the old. Also, of the original nine archways through which the water flowed only four remain visible - the remainder have been blocked up by construction of flood defences! No doubt this didn't help the pressure of water against the bridge.