|
INFORMATION WANTED
If you would
like to post an email on this page requesting or contributing any local historical information
on
people, buildings, documents, etc., please send it to:
nevilleallen@btinternet.com
_______________________________________
For
research queries please contact
PACKHORSE BRIDGES
I am a member of the Society and have
an article in the current journal about my Dentdale roots. I should
be delighted to receive any information that members can supply.
Margaret Dickinson. (maggiebdickinson@blueyonder.co.uk)
Prior to the use of wheeled transport
there must have been a steady packhorse trade passing through
Dentdale, Sedbergh and Garsdale, taking out such items as knitted
garments and woollen goods to markets and bringing back all kinds of
commodities, for the teams never travelled light. Packteams would
arrive from greater distances with vital commodities like salt.
The bridges used for crossing streams
were hump-backed to allow the passage of rivers in spate. They
were traditionally around 6' wide or less and without parapets to
accommodate the low-slung bulging panniers carried by the sturdy
little Galloways that were the most practical beast used for this
trade. The packhorse trade covered a period of around 500 years
until the canals, railways and major arteries took over.
The many crossings of the Dee, for
example, would originally have been by this type of bridge. These
would eventually have been extended to take carts and so serve a
dual purpose and then, in most cases, would have been rebuilt
for motorised transport. If any of the extended bridges have
survived there would be a tell-tale seam underneath. I have managed
to look under one or two of those in Dentdale but so far the
structures appear to have replaced the original bridge.
The grassed-over bridge underneath Dent
Head Viaduct is referred to as a packhorse bridge. Whilst
packhorses would have used the bridge it is more likely that this
was part of the old road prior to the building of the viaduct and
was structured for carts from the beginning as it is too wide in my
opinion.
However, just prior to arriving at
Dent Head, as I drove past Bridge End Cottage, I saw a gem on the
opposite side of the road spanning the infant Dee. Unspoilt
and untouched it connects with the pedestrian right of way leading
to Dent Head Farm and over the line of Blea Moor Tunnel to
Ribblehead.
|
