old iron bridge AA

[springbok]

Any one know whats happened to this fantastic piece of our history.
I heard it was lying in the top field in Cyfarthfa Park where lots of it got stolen.
Then it was removed to a whare house somewhere.

[springbok]

Wouldnt it be great to have whats left restored and added to and then placed back over the Taff where it should be.
With all the upgrades and restoration going on around town at moment surely some money could be found for arguably our most important piece of history and heritage.Thoughts on this please.

[mikemerthyr]

Hello springbok I have heard that the bridge has been rescued from Cyfarthfa Park and has been cleaned. There was or is a plan to rebuild it but because of the number of parts missing it would or will cost to much to do so. MERTHYR COUNCIL has no money for anything more than paying big pay outs to the bigwigs on the council!!. There was or is another plan suggested that there are enough parts of the bridge left to rebuild one side of it and to mount it on a wall somewhere. I think myself this is not a good idea ,where would you find a wall big enough and I think it would look stupid. It will probably be put back in Cyfarthfa Park grounds and lost again or the council will sell it for scrap to get money, its nearly Christmas and the councillors must have a party don't forget!!.

mike

[springbok]

Thanks for the info Mike
What a shame to hear that.
Maybe another organisation can come to the rescue other than our own useless council.
Outsiders rescued the YMCA and the OldTown Hall.Too much of our history and heritage has been destroyed-the Glamorgan Canal and Coal Arch spring to mind-there r countless others of course.
As for the lack of funds from the council; how can a financial restraint be weighted against the history and heritage of the finest industrial town anywhere in the UK.
They should hang theyre heads in shame.

[tugnutter]

well i,m from Swansea, and some of you might know the story of the SLIP bridge..It was (is) a bridge near the Guildhall in Swansea, built for pedestrians to gain access to the beach. It spanned the road, the Mumbles railway, and the main railway line from Swansea Victoria. Admittedly it wasn,t used much in recent years, but was a familiar and popular feature. A gateway to Mumbles and Gower.
Swansea city council declared it was in a bad way, and removed it(in one piece)and transported it to the recreation ground further down the Mumbles road. There it was shotblasted , painted, and then craned up on to the promenade, where it serves no purpose whatsoever....all this at enormous expense. So if you want to examine how bad the bridge is (NOT) you can inspect it at close quarters.
The real reason the bridge was removed, was because it spoiled the view from a recently built block of up market retirement homes.The abutments are still there and i think the council are afraid to go any further with the demolition of this fine structure...it could be replaced with a modern version of the old bridge, but we,ll wait and see