Mythe Bridge carries the A438 road across the River Severn at Tewkesbury. It is a cast-iron arch bridge spanning 170 feet (52 m) and 24 feet (7.3 m) 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.[2]
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.[3] The X-bracing carries the diagonal crossed bracing to the spandrels beneath the beam, as well as to the carriageway and balustrade. The abutments at either end of the bridge houses a group of six tunnel vaults with pointed arches and stone quoins. These are separated by the attached colonnettes.[4] Hugh McIntosh was contractor for the embankment and abutments.[5]
The total cost of the bridge including masonry approaches was £14,500, It was originally a toll bridge, but tolls were removed in 1850. An Ordnance Survey map of 1884 shows a toll booth at either end of the bridge.[4]
Telford wrote:
I reckon this the most handsomest bridge which has been built under my direction ...
The bridge was designated a Grade II* listed building on 4 March 1952, the reason for listing it being that it is of "technological interest as a bridge of iron construction with a 52m span designed in the early 1820s, part of the first generation of this technologically significant type of bridge" and because of its "engineering interest as a significant bridge built by Thomas Telford."[4] Historic England has placed the bridge on the Heritage at Risk register.[6]
In 1923, the decking was strengthened by adding a reinforced concrete slab.[4] In 1990, tests showed the bridge was too weak for many heavy goods vehicles, and traffic was limited to a 7.5 ton maximum. This was increased to 17 tons after the bridge had been strengthened in 1992. The secondary members needed strengthening and this was effected by enhancing the shear strength of the transverse cross beams by bonding steel plates to the web of the cross beams. The longitudinal cross-bracing was strengthened by using angle splints and the space between the splints and the cross-bracing was grouted. Additional transverse bracing was supplied by reinforcing the central spine of the arch, with one end bolted to steel sleeves, and the other end bolted to the cross beams at the top of the arch.[7]
^ Historic England. "MYTHE BRIDGE (1282810)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
^Cragg, R. (ed.) (1997). Civil Engineering Heritage: Wales & West Central England. Thomas Telford Publishing. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
^McKenzie, W. (1838). 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.
^ abcd"Mythe Bridge, Tewkesbury". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
^"Mythe Bridge". Engineering Timelines. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
^"Mythe Bridge, A438, Tewkesbury - Tewkesbury". Heritage at Risk. Historic England. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
^Graham Tilly (2002). Conservation of Bridges. CRC Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-419-25910-7.
MytheBridge carries the A438 road across the River Severn at Tewkesbury. It is a cast-iron arch bridge spanning 170 feet (52 m) and 24 feet (7.3 m) wide...
prototype. Others include the MytheBridge at Tewkesbury, built three years before the Galton Bridge, and the Holt Fleet Bridge in Worcestershire, completed...
prototype for several other Telford bridges, including Craigellachie Bridge, MytheBridge and Holt Fleet Bridge. The bridges all employed diamond-shaped bracing...
Bridges in the United Kingdom is a link page for significant road bridges or footbridges in the United Kingdom. Significant railway bridges are listed...
1940, the only bridge to cross between Worcester and Tewkesbury Queenshill Viaduct – carries the M50 between Junction 1 and 2 MytheBridge – designed by...
The Welsh Bridge is a masonry arch viaduct in the town of Shrewsbury, England, which crosses the River Severn. It connects Frankwell with the town centre...
Telford's MytheBridge over the River Severn, a cast-iron structure with a 170 feet (52 m) span, opened in 1826. Tewkesbury's other notable bridge is the...
Porthill Bridge, also often referred to as Port Hill Footbridge, is a suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire...
first iron bridge, The Iron Bridge, built from cast iron, crosses the River Severn at Ironbridge Gorge. The Iron Bridge is one of three bridges on the River...
to a stonemason, and some of his earliest work can still be seen on the bridge across the River Esk in Langholm in Dumfries and Galloway. He worked for...
The Mythe Chapel is located at Tewkesbury on the Mythe (off the A38 overlooking MytheBridge, between Severn Trent Water and the Tewkesbury Garden Centre)...
cruciform and circular cross-members and is similar in design to the MytheBridge in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Its surface is flat and falls towards...
Kingsland Bridge is a privately owned toll bridge, spanning the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. It is located near Shrewsbury School and the cost...
likely derived from the Old English (ġe)mȳthum (inflected form of (ġe)mȳthe, "river mouth"), plus rodu ("field" or "clearing"). The L[further explanation...
The Mythe Water Treatment Works in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, is a facility that treats water drawn from the River Severn. On 1 March 2002...
Floch, Sylvain (1985). "La Chute d'un Ange : le monstrueux à travers le mythe de Shelley et Aldiss". Le Monstrueux (in French) (6). Aix-en-Provence: 137...
Crawford (in Cinema, 1 December 1930, pp. 28–31) L'affaire Lumière. Du mythe à l'histoire, enquête sur les origines du cinéma by Léo Sauvage, 1985 ISBN 2-86244-045-0...
stationed some of his troops while lodging the night at Mythe Hall. Lovett or Lovett's Bridge, sometimes ‘Lovatt’ links Sheepy Parva across the Sence...
114. Loustalot, Ghislain (11 March 2018). "Alain Delon: la jeunesse d'un mythe". Paris Match (in French). Retrieved 17 July 2021. Durant 2004, p. 19. Rees-Roberts...
Saint Domingue, quoted in Claude Prepetit, "Tremblements de terre en Haïti, mythe ou réalité ?", Le Matin, Issue 33082, 9 October 2008 Madiou, Thomas. Histoire...
Gilbert (April 17, 2017). "Le rapatriement de 1982: trahison et fin d'un mythe". Le Devoir. "Résolution de l'Assemblée nationale du Québec sur les conditions...
century Rendezvous: 17th century Chirol Laure, Les « mots français » et le mythe de la France en anglais contemporain, Paris, Klincksieck (coll. « Études...
Collina-Girard, Jacques, L'Atlantide retrouvée: enquête scientifique autour d'un mythe (Paris: Belin – pour la science, 2009). Valente Poddighe, Paolo. Atlantide...
Global Information
