By the end of the 19th Century, the only means of crossing the River Taff in Merthyr, south of the Iron Bridge, was by means of a the Rhydycar Ford – little more than set of stepping stones.
This crossing was totally inadequate, as, except when the weather was exceptionally fine, the crossing was impassable and exceptionally dangerous. Indeed, it was reported as early as 1835, that a young man from Waunwyllt, having crossed the ford to visit his fiancée in Merthyr, upon returning to the spot to make his way home, found the ford flooded. In desperation, he took refuge in the warmth of the Caedraw kiln, but overcome by the heat, fell asleep and suffocated. For many years after this requests were made that a proper crossing be erected.
By 1890, no progress had been made, and indeed the minutes from the Board of Health’s meeting on 14 May 1890 show that the question of a bridge at Caedraw was still being raised, and that a Surveyor’s Report had in fact been carried out the previous year, but the Board decided that they had more important projects to carry out and that “the question of this Bridge be deferred for the present year”.
Wranglings over the bridge continued for another three years, until the Board finally decided to give the go-ahead for plans to be drawn up for a cart bridge to be built across the Taff at Caedraw with the proviso that the building of the bridge and approaches should cost no more than £450.
By November 1894, concrete foundations and masonry footings had been erected for the abutments for the new bridge, and orders had been placed for iron girders, iron flooring and timbers. The girders forming the main span of the bridge, with iron cross-members covered by the timber forming the base of the bridge. Timber was chosen to form the ‘flooring’ of the bridge over steel flooring suggested by the surveyor, as it was £39 cheaper to use wood than iron.
Within ten years however, this ‘false economy’ proved the surveyor correct, as the wooden flooring of the bridge was disintegrating badly. Throughout 1910 and 1911, arguments continued about repairing the bridge. Again it was suggested that steel flooring be laid on the bridge, but the Board decided that creosoting the timbers would suffice. In March 1938, however, the floor of the bridge collapsed and the bridge was closed to traffic. Even though it was eventually patched up and was put back into use again, the bridge was condemned in 1951, and it was demolished in 1966.
In retrospect, the bridge was doomed from the start. In order to cut costs, the Board of Health insisted on using the wrong materials, and indeed, the materials that they did use were all second-hand, and technically unsound.
