Mythe Bridge

Drawing from Transactions of the I.C.E. 1838

Mythe Bridge carries the A438 road across the River Severn at Tewkesbury. It is a cast iron arch bridge spanning 170 feet (52m) and 24 feet (7.3m) wide, designed by Thomas Telford and completed in April 1826. It is a Grade II* listed structure. ^[1]

Telford was appointed to design the bridge in 1823, following a dispute between the bridge trustees and their existing architect, who had proposed a bridge with three shorter iron arches. Telford changed the scheme to a single span so as to reduce interference with navigation of the river, and also to eliminate the expense of constructing foundations in the river gravels.

The Mythe Bridge

Like Telford's Craigellachie Bridge, Mythe Bridge was cast by William Hazledine, and is similar in form to Telford's Galton Bridge, which spans the Birmingham Canal at Smethwick. It has six cast iron ribs, each cast in 23-foot (7m) lengths, with spandrels filled with X-shaped bracing. Telford described the iron as "best Shropshire iron, commonly called No. 2"'. The arch rises 17 feet (5.2m), one tenth of the span.

The total cost of the bridge including masonry approaches was £14,500, It was originally a toll bridge, but tolls were removed in 1850.

Telford wrote:

I reckon this the most handsomest bridge which has been built under my direction ...

In 1990 traffic was limited to 7.5 tons, increased to 17 tons after the bridge was strengthened in 1992.

References

↑ "Name: MYTHE BRIDGE List entry Number: 1282810". Historic England. Retrieved 26 May 2015. line feed character in |title= at position 20 (help)

Cragg, R., Civil Engineering Heritage: Wales & West Central England, Thomas Telford Publishing, 2nd edn., 1997
McKenzie, W., Account of the Bridge over the Severn, near the Town of Tewkesbury, in the County of Gloucester, designed by Thomas Telford, and erected under his superintendence, Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1838
Telford, T. (1838). The Life of Telford.
Witts, C., A Century of Bridges, River Severn Publications, 2nd edn., 1998

Coordinates: 52°00′07″N 2°09′49″W / 52.0020°N 2.1635°W / 52.0020; -2.1635

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River Severn, Great Britain

Administrative areas	Powys Shropshire Worcestershire Gloucestershire Monmouthshire South Gloucestershire Bristol North Somerset Somerset Newport Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan

Settlements	Llanidloes Newtown Welshpool Shrewsbury Ironbridge Bridgnorth Bewdley Stourport Worcester Tewkesbury Gloucester Berkeley Chepstow Avonmouth

Major tributaries	River Vyrnwy River Tern Cound Brook River Stour River Teme Warwickshire Avon River Wye Bristol Avon River Usk

Flows into	Severn Estuary Bristol Channel

Linked canals	Staffordshire and Worcestershire Worcester and Birmingham Droitwich Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Thames and Severn Coalport Gloucester and Sharpness Stroudwater Navigation Coombe Hill

Major crossings	Welsh Bridge English Bridge The Iron Bridge Mythe Bridge Over Bridge Severn Bridge Aust Severn Powerline Crossing Severn Tunnel Second Severn Crossing All crossings of the River Severn

Longest UK rivers Severn Thames Trent Great Ouse Wye Ure/Ouse Tay Spey Clyde Tweed Avon Nene Eden Dee

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Mythe Bridge

See also

References