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Old bridge: Newbridge

4/9/2014

8 Comments

 
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It's one of our old bridges now but it was christened 'new' because this road bridge replaced a previous rail bridge, the wooden stumps of which can still be seen poking up from the river bed at low tide when you hang over (carefully, please!) the up-river side. 

The plate girder bridge, which opened in 1903 following the expansion of Port Talbot docks in 1890, is listed with Cadw:  ...a finely detailed plate-girder bridge which is unusual at this date for carrying a strategic road rather than a railway. The association with the development of Port Talbot docks is of additional historic interest. (Record 23153). The bases of the original gas lamp-posts are still mounted on its large, square stone piers.  It is now closed to traffic and is a link in NPTCBC’s riverside foot and cycle path network. 

Its listing as a heritage site should mean that the bridge is protected but its future is far from secure. The absence of any maintenance over decades means that a considerable amount of money would have to be spent on it and in 2013 the local authority confirmed their long term plan to replace the bridge with a new footbridge subject to funding and Cadw's approval. 

A year later no further progress has been made and I'm currently waiting to hear back from the Heritage Officer at NPTCBC. 


I'd like to believe that Port Talbot can hold on to Newbridge, one of the few physical traces that remains of our industrial past. But that hope may have to be supported by the community's protective voice.

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8 Comments
Darren elkins
4/9/2014 08:11:35 am

I hope it can be saved, I live cycling across this bridge on my route to the beach and can't help but stop on there for a breather and take in the tranquil sounds of the birds and the river as it flops over the fall.
The sparkle as the sun bounces of the swell of the currant on a sunny day is beautiful.
The bridge itself holds a special kind of beauty as one can't help but be transported back to Victorian times with it's heavy iron framework and te remains of it's gas lamps. I also love the rusty colour it's now become. That shade of red which screams "heritage".
One of my favourite places

Reply
Lynne link
4/9/2014 08:52:11 am

Thanks so much for commenting, Darren. It is beautiful, you're right. It would be tragic to see it replaced with an anonymous blue bridge.

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ruth
8/9/2014 11:47:55 pm

Hmmm....NPT vandals want to replace it. Shocker! Is it flammable or will they have to resort to an alternative means to get rid of it?

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martin griffiths
13/10/2020 02:43:41 pm

i have heard today that NPT council are to start work on a new bridge/ ?????.Does anyone know anything of this

Reply
Lynne Rees
13/10/2020 02:47:32 pm

No, I haven't heard anything, Martin.

Reply
Sushi Products link
6/5/2023 12:32:11 am

Great post tthankyou

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Ashlii
4/7/2023 12:55:46 am

A bit late now, but has there been any information almost 10 years on? I live near Newbridge Street so it'd be ideal for getting into town rather than having to navigate the busy streets going past Victoria Road.

Reply
Renton
26/11/2023 12:10:21 am

Just read online today that £12m has been secured to renovate and reopen the bridge

Reply



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    Lynne Rees

    Picture
    Lynne Rees was born and grew up in Port Talbot and blogs as 'the hungry writer' at www.lynnerees.com. Her book, Real Port Talbot, an upbeat and offbeat account of the town and surrounding area, from Bryn to Sandfields, from Margam to Baglan Bay, and everything in between, is published by Seren Books.

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