Slater's Bridge
Coordinates54°25′04″N 3°03′42″W / 54.41783°N 3.06165°W / 54.41783; -3.06165
CrossesRiver Brathay
LocaleLittle Langdale, Cumbria
Statistics
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameSlater's Bridge
Designated12 January 1967
Reference no.1245295[1]
Location

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

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

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
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