Whitney Bridge
From 1774 to the present – a concise history
The calmly flowing river Wye, as seen by visitors to the Marches in summer,
bears little resemblance to the wayward and tempestuous river known to our
forefathers. River catchment control and regular monitoring of water levels has
brought this ‘wandering spirit’ to heel, although even now it occasionally rises
to threaten the farmlands and the roads of the locality. Previously though, it
was a force to be reckoned with and treated with great caution, especially in
periods of sudden thaw and heavy rainfall. At such times the river rose out of
its banks to sweep across the low lying meadows, carrying trees, live stock,
haystacks and even people along with it. Then it would subside leaving its fine
silt over the fields and ensuring a rich sward in the following spring. On
occasions its force was so great that it carried tracts of land away, such as at
Glasbury in 1660 when the old Church was swept away. Again it was another
great flood in 1720 that cut off Whitney old Church leaving it on the opposite
bank of the river to that on which it had originally stood.
With such an unpredictable river it is not surprising that Bridges across it were
few and far between. For most of its course between Hereford and Hay the
only ways of crossing were either by fording at shallow places or by small boat
or raft at ‘safe’ crossing points. In the stretch of river between Hay and
Bredwardine there were five, possibly six, fording places; at Clifford Castle, at
Rhydspence, the Whitney ford (about 200 yds. downstream from the present
Bridge) at Clock Mill Farm, possibly Turners Boat, and at Bredwardine just
below the Glebe Field next to the Vicarage. Later there were ferries at these
points, two of which Rhydspence and Clock Mill were operative until this
century. It is possible to locate most of these crossing points today and the one
at Whitney is easily seen by letting the eye follow the line of a track and hedges
from the sharp bend in the Hay road on the South bank, just where it turns
Northwards to the Toll Bridge, on to the river bank.
Sun rise and sun set at the Bridge February 2012
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From the time of the great flood in 1730 onwards it was an even greater
problem to the Whitney villagers, for the river had cut them off from their
common grazing land. Livestock were often left on the ‘wrong’ side of the river
for days on end when the water levels were too high to drive them across. The
commercial carriers of Hay and Hereford found their business impeded by the
deficiencies of the Whitney ferry and added their voices to those already
agitating to have a Bridge built at this point. So in November 1773 the owner of
the ferry, Tomkyns Dew, Lord of the Manor of Whitney, was instrumental in
presenting a Bill to Parliament for the construction of a Bridge at Whitney. The
‘Undertakers’ as they were called came from Hay, Clifford and Whitney. They
had to build the Bridge in stone within three years, and compensate Tomkyns
Dew for the loss of his ferry. They were given permission to take stone, gravel
and sand for the building and repair of the Bridge from the Manorial land of
Tomkyns Dew free of charge. They were also given the land near the Bridge on
which a Tollhouse could be built.
Old photographs of Toll House & Toll Bridge Cottage late 1800
At this time barges full of Forest of Dean coal were regularly coming up the
river as far as Glasbury and often these barges would be lashed together for
the return journey so that they could carry whole tree trunks down to the river
mouth. It is not surprising therefore, that the barge owners were made fully
responsible for any damage that there craft might cause to the Bridge. As it
turned out it was not the barges or rafts that caused the downfall of the Bridge
but the force of the river itself. Perhaps the need to construct the Bridge
rapidly and get some return on their capital led the ‘Undertakers’ to site the
first, second and third Bridges poorly and to allow them to be built of
inadequate materials. The first two fell fairly rapidly under the Wye’s
onslaught. The third lasted somewhat longer, succumbing only to what was
probably the Wye’s greatest recorded flood on February 22nd. 1795.
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After the loss of three Bridges in barely twenty years the original Undertakers
were ruined and so they withdrew. The need for the Bridge was just as great so
a new group put their minds to finding a structure which would stand up to the
river. Their proposals were that a Bridge, partly of stone and partly of timber,
would be most likely to withstand catastrophic floods. This however
contravened the letter of the law in the original Bill, which had specified a
stone Bridge. So the new Undertakers having bought up the Bridge property
and rights from the widow of one of the original promoters set about
presenting a new Bill to Parliament in July 1796. This allowed for a Bridge of
timber and stone to be built within two years. The Longfellow’s, the principal
carriers of Brecon, together with a John Phillips of Hay, were the new
Undertakers and they decided to have three wooden spans supported on oak
wood pillars standing on ‘islands’ of large stones in midstream. Some accounts
mention that the timber used was ‘Greenheart’ but whatever it was it has been
proved adequate over the intervening years. The structure has been repaired
often, and expensively, but its unusual construction has lasted almost 200
years and today forms a picturesque and appropriate part of the local
landscape.
With the new Bridge the opportunity was taken to increase the Tolls and to add
some new categories such as ‘Asses or Dogs drawing’ at two pence each.
Tomkyns Dew, ‘his heirs and assigns, proprietors or occupier of the Mansion
House of Whitney Court; his family, servants, horses, cattle, carriages and all
matter and things liable to Toll’ were exempt from all Tolls on the Bridge. This
apparently clear exemption seems to have been capable of much variation in
its interpretation so that it became the cause of a bad-tempered dispute lasting
over 50 years. Finally, in 1854 an agreement was reached out of Court between
Tomkyns Dew and the Bridge owner, a Mrs. Caroline Taylor (nee Longfellow)
that seemed to settle the matter.
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By this time other threats to the economic viability of the Bridge had appeared.
In 1810 the Hay Tramway (a horse drawn tramway) was proposed to take the
tram tracks over the river by a new suspension Bridge a little way upstream of
the Toll Bridge. This Bridge was never built because the Toll Bridge owners
successfully maintained that the wording of the Bill gave them the exclusive
privilege of a crossing of the river at this point. After an acrimonious dispute
the Tramway owners agreed to lay their tracks over the Toll Bridge itself and to
pay the Bridge owners £100 a year for the usage.
Forty years later the steam railway posed the next threat and the 1859 Railway
Act to build a railway from Brecon to Hereford was bitterly contested. The
railway, however, needed a much stronger Bridge to support its trains and it
was obvious that the Toll Bridge was in no way suitable for this kind of traffic.
So the Railway Company was allowed to build its Bridge a short distance
upstream. In recompense it agreed to guarantee the Tolls on the Bridge up to
the sum of £345 a year.
Railway Bridge 1860s and what remains today – view up steam from Bridge
For the next fifty years or so the Toll Bridge entered another ‘quiet period’ until
the coming of the motorcar made the roads important once more. It seems
that in the early 1900’s the state of the Bridge was giving the County
authorities some concern and plans were drawn up for a new Bridge. These
were not implemented and possibly remained on the shelf until 1928 when
public attention nationally was focusing on these ‘ancient relics’ of the
transport system.
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Very different traffic these days – old and new…
Early in that year talks took place between the Herefordshire County Council
and the Hereford Chamber of Commerce over the remaining Toll Bridges in the
County. These were listed as: Whitney, Moccas, Holme Lacy, Horwithy and
Kerne, and the Whitney Bridge was stated to be the most important of them
all. Nearly 70 years later it is still the only one under private ownership!
In the early Thirties the ownership of the Bridge, although still within the Taylor
family, had been so much divided and subdivided among succeeding
generations that there were 32 co-owners! Perhaps the County Council was put
off trying to do anything about the Whitney Bridge by the likely legal costs of
dealing with so many interested parties.
The Bridge, having been for so long in the possession of one family, even if that
possession was fragmented, meant that there were quite a number of disputes
over aspects of its rights and operation. Fishing rights at the end of the last
century had to be settled legally with the neighbouring riparian owners, and
there were of course, many occasions when the Tolls were hotly contested.
A good example occurred in 1939 when the then owner, Mr. G. D. Taylor and
his wife, were brought before the Courts charged with unlawfully demanding
and receiving Toll from an Army officer on duty. The Army Act of 1881 gave
free passage to Army personnel on duty over any Toll Bridge in the Kingdom.
On this occasion the Bridge owners sought to distinguish between the officer
and his car in demanding a Toll for the vehicle and then became somewhat
‘flustered’ when he rightly refused to pay. At any rate Mrs. Taylor assaulted the
Major whilst her husband flung brooms and a ladder on the car and had to be
restrained by the Sergeant who was travelling with the Major.
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Considering that the owners were both well into their eighties when this
happened one might assume that the lifestyle of Toll keepers in those days led
to longevity, if not to equanimity! Their willingness to take immediate action
probably did not surprise the locals who knew that the pair lived separately on
either side of the Tollgate, for there was another cottage opposite the present
one at the time. So, when the house in which Mr. Taylor slept burned down in
1940 with him inside there were those who knowingly shook their heads about
the ‘accidental’ nature of the event. The building has never been replaced.
Poppies growing on the site of the old house
It took another thirty years before one member of the family, Mr. George
Taylor, managed to buy-in all the other family ‘Shareholders’ and restore a
single owner situation. On his death the sole ownership of the Bridge passed to
his daughter, Mrs. Margison, who in turn bequeathed it to her husband on her
death. Mr. Margison then living in Australia, found the long distance
management of the Bridge quite difficult and tedious and so decided to put the
whole concern on the market for the first time in its history. It was thus in
1981, after over 180 years, that Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Bryant, became the first
owners of the concern to have bought it outright. After approximately 9 years,
on 17th August 1990, Mr. Bryant was successful in his application to the
Department for Transport to allow him to officially increase the “standard” Toll
from 30p to 50p. In November 2009 an application was approved by the DfT for
an increase of Toll fee from 50p to 80p. In February 2015 an application was
submitted to change from 80p to £1 and this was ratified by the Secretary of
State for Transport on June 29th 2015. This is the current toll level and the
current owners are endeavouring to maintain this as long as possible.
On the 1st.December 1990 the Toll Bridge was purchased by a Mrs. Smith from
Warwickshire intending that the ownership would be retained within her
immediate family for the foreseeable future. On inspection it became clear that
the Bridge was suffering from many years of neglect and lack of maintenance.
Therefore in 1992 Gifford & Partners, a specialist firm of Chartered Engineers,
were instructed by the owner to commission a programme of complete
restoration for this historic Grade II listed structure.
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Work began in late 1992 and then early in 1993 the four main foundation pier
bases were rebuilt and made safe. In the summer of 1993 the local company of
Capps & Capps Ltd. were instructed by Gifford & Partners to commence the
complete restoration of the Bridge timbers using the original “Greenheart”
specification. The Bridge was closed during the months of September and
October whilst the main spars and decking timbers were replaced. Far more
replacement of the wooden superstructure was eventually required than first
envisaged. Because in the past it became evident that a number of the beams
and bearers had been replaced with pine as a cost saving measure, but these
had comprehensively rotted from the inside out. The cost of the restoration
was in the region of £300,000. The ownership of the Bridge changed again in
2002 when it was purchased by a Mr. B.E. Howard of Bedford.
Whitney Bridge changed hands once more in January 2012 with Grahame
Penny and Maggie Taylor taking ownership running the Bridge personally in
order to ensure it is business viable and protected into the future. It is certain
that Whitney Bridge business will need to diversify in order to be financially
secure and to that end Maggie and Grahame have developed plans for a café
and visitor’s centre plus three eco fishing lodges which will provide alternative
income to supplement the tolls.
Legend has it that every Bridge has a troll which lives under the arches –
Whitney Bridge is no different and Walter, Whitney Bridge’s friendly troll,
introduced himself to Maggie in the summer of 2013 and now features in a
series of children’s books.
He also made a personal appearance at Hay Festival 2014.
Meet Walter
Over the few years that Maggie and Grahame have owned Whitney Bridge they
have invested heavily in the surrounding infrastructure to ensure that Whiney
Bridge is a clean, tidy and enjoyable place to visit whether it is to camp or
canoe with us or to view an important, historic part of the UK’s social and
economic heritage.
Please have a look at the website www.WhitneyBridge.co.uk to keep updated
on the building projects and all other exciting events that are held here.
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