Slater's Bridge

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Slater's Bridge
Slater Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 1563250.jpg
Coordinates 54°25′04″N3°03′42″W / 54.41783°N 3.06165°W / 54.41783; -3.06165 Coordinates: 54°25′04″N3°03′42″W / 54.41783°N 3.06165°W / 54.41783; -3.06165
Crosses River Brathay
Locale Little Langdale, Cumbria
Statistics
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameSlater's Bridge
Designated12 January 1967
Reference no.1245295 [1]
Location
Slater's Bridge

Slater's Bridge is a traditional packhorse bridge in Little Langdale in the English Lake District, standing at National Grid Reference NY3120502996 . [1]

Contents

History and construction

The bridge dates back to the 17th century, and became a listed building in 1967. [1] Built of slate, it consists of a 15-foot (4.6 m) segmental arch and a flatter span built of slabs, and incorporates a natural boulder in midstream. The bridge is thought to have been created by miners working in the nearby Tilberthwaite Fells. [2]

Already in the 19th century, Alexander Craig Gibson called it "an exquisite and unique specimen of a style of bridge all but extinct"; [3] a century later, Alfred Wainwright called it "the most picturesque footbridge in Lakeland, a slender arch constructed of slate from the quarries and built to give the quarrymen a shorter access from their homes". [4]

Literary associations

The bridge was acclaimed in a 20th-century poem as "...this/exercise in hanging circularity, toppling stress./The rough slate wedges carry their own likeness/on the belly of each, with the grass springing sidewise/at the joins. The bare arch links two valley sides/as though by a handclasp across the sky's reflection". [5]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Slaters Bridge  (Grade II*) (1245295)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  2. Conduit, Brian (1991). Lake District Walks. Jarrold/OS. p. 62. ISBN   0711704635.
  3. Gibson, Alexander Craig (1849). The Old Man; Or Ravings and Ramblings Round Conistone. London: Whittaker & Co. p. 30. Retrieved 5 September 2020 via Project Gutenberg.
  4. Wainwright, Alfred (1992). Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland. London: Michael Joseph. p. 185. ISBN   0718134818.
  5. Quoted in N Nichlson, The Lake District (Penguin 978) p. 58-9