Pont Rhyd Goch and authenticity

For once I had been able to get off the road and take a picture with a good view of a bridge. This is Pont Rhyd Goch, very close to the summit of the entire road. Isn't this a lovely bridge and a classic example of a Thomas Telford bridge? Well, yes and no.

The design you see is Telford, but look carefully under the arch and you can see where the carriageway has been widened with a modern reinforced concrete arch. After that, the outer wall was replaced just as it was, a bit further out, by skilled conservators. So we are seeing what it was supposed to look like, but put back later.  As the purpose of the walk was to seek out the visible signs of the road's history, this, and other artefacts along the way,  poses the question of authenticity. Am I really seeing the history I had set out to see, or is it a pastiche?

The historical legacy of the road is very much respected by the fact that the conservators have needed to do their work. I've seen features along the way, such as depots, which are still there, not because they perform a useful function (although some do, incidentally) but because the highway authorities have chosen to keep them as a reminder of the forebears' work. Nowadays, legislation protects many historic buildings and structures, but they're only still there because landowners and public authorities chose to protect them before there was legislation. At the end of the day, I see and enjoy things that have been deliberately preserved and conserved over the years, when the originals that have not been so well looked-after are tumbled down or overgrown. I conclude (concede?) that the nice looking bits of history are not quite authentically as built.    

At Pont Rhyd Goch, I can't even be sure about the name. New bridges don't seem to have been officially named, but just acquired the names that local people gave them, usually describing what they were near - the river or a nearby building - or, occasionally, what they replaced.  So a name Pont Rhyd Goch (Red Ford Bridge) is typical, suggesting that the bridge was close to, or replaced, a ford where maybe rocks were reddish. The difficulty is that Telford's route for the road here was brand new, the older road, still very clear today as a track and public path, being just across the valley. Having regard to few buildings and tracks in this remote terrain, there just isn't anywhere that would need a ford from the old road across the river at this point: it just wouldn't go anywhere. On a map from 1889, the earliest I have found where the bridge is named, it's called Pont Ty Coch, which may be more original, named after a roadside building, and later adapted to the present name.

Reflections on the Shropshire road

How do you describe the something that isn't there? It was easy enough in a tick-box sort of way when I was looking for milestones, when either I saw them or I didn't (and even then, subsequent research has shown that some I didn't see were actually there, nevertheless).

This is about something vaguer - the 'look' of the road. Birdwatchers call it 'jizz' - the way a bird hops, pecks, glides, etc., lets them recognise it, even when they haven't seen the distinctive wingtip flash or whatever that really identifies a species. I think of this when I'm weeding the garden: I have an idea from the shape of leaves which should go and which should stay, although I haven't got the technical vocabulary (which I know exists) that would enable me to describe the difference.

So the question was - does the Shrewsbury to Chirk road look like the Chirk to Holyhead road? I do think that the road all the way from Chirk to Holyhead has a certain look in common, although I would be hard pressed to demonstrate this with a few pictures, given all the changes in landscape along the way. I wanted to know if that look started at Shrewsbury. And, no, it doesn't, although again it's difficult to say exactly why.

So what was the same and what was different?

Gradients - a common approach to avoiding steep gradients by embankments over dips, cuttings through rises and platforms round the side of hills, obviously more pronounced in Wales because the topography calls for it.

Halts - a need to call at certain places for stopping-off points along the way.  The road goes through Nesscliffe in Shropshire because it had the coaching inns, otherwise Telford would have gone the way of the present bypass. In Wales, the route through Corwen and Bangor was dictated in advance - but not at Llangollen or Capel Curig, while Anglesey called for a brand-new coaching inn. So was Telford, County Surveyor for Shropshire, more subject to local pressure there than in Wales?

Tollhouses - the two-storey tollhouse at Montford Bridge looks like an Anglesey tollhouse, and that at Burcot (actually the other side of Shrewsbury) is similar to those in mainland Wales. The 'Gatehouse' by Wolfshead looks nothing like a tollhouse - but may be an earlier turnpike building.

Milestones - a similar, but not identical design. West of Shrewsbry, these are definitely different to those on the London side and the stone itself is the same, suggesting some continuity between Shrewsbury-Chirk and Chirk-Holyhead. The cast iron plate doesn't have quite the same lettering and doesn't follow the policy of naming the next coaching stop either side.
 
Depots and walls - these roadside alcoves are a very distinct characteristic of the Telford road in North Wales, and I really couldn't find any in Shropshire except perhaps one or two just before Chirk. But that leads to the other big difference: you can't really have a depot without there being a roadside wall for the alcove to interrupt. In Wales, the topography leads to a need for a retaining wall one side or another, and sometimes both - but the Telford roadway is usually bounded by a wall everywhere. (of course walls get rebuilt by adjoining property owners or in highway improvements - but it's rare for a wall, once built, to be removed and replaced by a fence). This really was the big difference in Shropshire - the road in the countryside usually had just a fence or a hedge at the side. I couldn't spot the depots because there was no wall for them to be in.

  



 

The big problem with the Camera and Data Card

At 9.38am on 20 September I had a moment of deep despair. Along the walk, I had been taking lots  of pictures as well making notes of what I was seeing. That morning it appeared that I had lost all the pictures I had taken since starting Phase 2 - and as my handwritten notes were no substitute for the images, I didn't know what I could do to recover them.

That evening (fortunately then back home) I realised that I could read all the pictures up to 4.49pm the previous day. Something had happened then, or more exactly halfway through a picture I had taken then, which meant I could not read the remaining files. I had 69 files on the data card which the computer told me were there, and about the right size, but I couldn't read them with any imaging software. There then followed some messages between me and my camera manufacturer's help desk, but having established that the camera worked perfectly well with a different data card, suspicion turned to the card, not the camera. I thought the data had been corrupted because there was apparently something still there, and it could, I hoped, still be recovered. I took it to a local computer-geek place who in turn sent it off to another one.

It turns out that I had been sold a counterfeit card! It claimed to be 32GB, printed on the card but also the firmware inside had been tampered with, so that the camera and computer also thought there was 32GB there. In reality, it was only 8GB, so once that was filled up there was no more room - and the apparent 69 files were just zeroes. I know where I bought it and I still have the receipt, so obviously I am following that up.

I'm dealing with this now because I'm working through my notes and photographs along the way. Having got to this point on the walk, I could work out exactly what was missing - and in the end it turned out to be only about four miles' worth. I have just been back there and with the aid of the written notes, succeeded in retaking the pictures, and one or two more. Fortunately, the trees hadn't shed too many leaves since, and the weather was much the same, so I won't have lost too much continuity. 

My camera phone was my backup for the reminder of the journey. I was lucky to be at home by then, because it meant I could download from the camera daily in order to clear the memory for the next day. That worked, too, although there may be some reduction in image quality.

This problem could have been very much worse.

The Milestones of Shropshire

I've posted earlier about the milestones along the length of Watling Street to Wroxeter. They come more frequently now, and this post is about what I found  - and didn't find - along the length of the road from my restart in Uckington until crossing into Wales. This post comes with the benefit of having cross-checked after coming home what other people have said about these milestones.

On the London side of Shrewsbury, I was looking for milestones with the mileage from London. In style, these should continue the pattern of the 139, 140 and 141 mile posts I saw towards the end of Phase 1.

The first one I expected was London 146 miles, which ought to have been on the old A5, now the B5061, a little to the east of its junction with the B4380. Why did I think it was there? Because it's identified on older Ordnance Survey maps (with some of its mileage details) and the present-day OS Explorer map still has MS at this point. I had a good look for this one - unlike later on, where there was too much vegetation which might have hidden it and too much traffic to wander around searching - but didn't find it. If it was there, I should have seen it. Coming back home, after rechecking, I find that neither Historic England's listed buildings records nor the Milestone Society have it, so perhaps I was seeking something that disappeared long ago. Unless the Ordnance Survey know differently.

Next: London 147 miles. Apparently this is at the western end of the old Atcham Bridge, and is listed, so it really ought to be there.  I crossed over the old bridge and looked around but didn't find anything, although, concerned now about being late for my next appointment, I probably wasn't as thorough as a mile earlier. I have since found this photograph online which claims to show it, and I can't see it there either.

I had more luck at 148 miles. This one is where it should be and is listed although the listing text wrongly says 145 miles.

This is prominent and in a good condition, unaccountably not yet a listed building or structure.

There are meant to be two milestones at the column roundabout in Shrewsbury and I only found one of them. There is a bit of a mix-up in the listing details - this one is in the position indicated for 1246398 but has the legend described for 1255092.

The mention of County Hall makes this listed 150-mile marker more interesting.

















After passing through the centre of Shresbury, I was now looking for milestones to Holyhead. These are all of a common pattern, a shaped limestone block with a cast iron plate listing miles to Holyhead and the distance from Salop (Shrewsbury).

106 miles. A pity the stone is painted (and, compared with the others, the bolts shouldn't be painted black).










I couldn't find 105 miles, although the Milestone Society have recorded it, but with a plate which looks like a modern reproduction.

104 miles.  I very nearly missed this one, a hedge overhanging it and ivy almost hiding the plate. This begins to explain why I missed a few others along the way.
















In fact, I then failed to find both the 103 and 102 miles to Holyhead stones. I began to realise that September is must be the worst time of year for roadside vegetation growth, and that the highway authorities are probably cutting it back less these days. These stones are probably still there somewhere, but completely overgrown.

It may not be obvious, but this is 101 miles to Holyhead. It's not that the stone has been buried, more that the road level has been raised since it was put there.

This one is a bit more readable, and prominent on the side of the present-day A5.

It looks like someone has decided to take care of this one, although painting the bevel of the stone black doesn't quite match others.









I missed both the stones for 98 and 97 miles to Holyhead, once again because of roadside vegetation. I have since seen them on Google Streetview. Holyhead 96 miles is in Blists Hill Museum, and I have no complaint about that - more people will notice it there, as I have done myself.

95 miles, although listed, has been lost since 1980 according to the Milestone Society. I couldn't find it, either.

It was a step forward to spot a nicely preserved and displayed  milestone for 94 miles.

And 93.












The 92-mile was another one missing, although I wasn't sure this could have been hidden by vegetation: where it ought to have been was a shortish grass verge with not much growth behind either. I think this one might have been moved more recently, despite its listing. Apparently it turned up in a pile of earth when the main road was being upgraded and has been installed on a drive in nearby Aston Hall.

 91 miles.

This was a bit of a bonus - I hadn't expected to find a milesone for 90 miles, and it's not marked on any modern maps, but here's a recent reproduction.








I didn't see 89 miles to Holyhead and it's not included on anybody's lists, so it must have gone long ago. Neither did I see 88 miles but it's shown on the 1:50,000 OS map and the Milestone Society have a reference number for it.

Here is 87 miles, which looks original and is in fairly good condition, the main blemish being a chunk of stone missing from the right side. I made the mistake earlier of saying it isn't listed, but it is.

86 miles. It's nice to see how the owner of the privet hedge has trimmed it around the milestone.

85 miles. This one, inexplicably, is not listed.

With 84 miles to go, this is the last milestone on the old A5 in England. Located betwen parking spaces, it must be vulnerable to the odd knock, and in fact the plate has cracked horizontally below the HEAD of HOLYHEAD, and is protruding outwards. This is at risk of falling out altogether and urgently needs repair.





I've got a little more to do with all this. I intend to contact the various authorities responsible for the milestones and for recording them with these details, and more, with a view to improving their upkeep and accessibility. I wonder how I will get on with that.

Updating

Now I'm back home, I am going through my notes and pictures. As I go, I'm adding a few pictures to the blog posts I did on each day of  Phase 2. I may need to correct some typos (as did all these originally on my little phone) but otherwise I'm not planning to change the text, so that it still appears as a distilled record of my thoughts that evening. 

More thematic posts will come soon as I go through these.