Barmouth Bridge/Bont y Bermo as World Heritage site?

[Arglwydd Golau]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-25120851

Calls have been made for a 146-year-old railway bridge to be listed as a World Heritage Site.

Barmouth Town Council plans to hold talks with historic monuments agency Cadw and Railtrack, which owns the bridge across the Mawddach estuary.

The 900m-long (2,953 ft) bridge carries the Cambrian Coast Railway from Machynlleth to Pwllheli.

Wales has three entries in Unesco's World Heritage List, which includes 981 properties.

Wales' current sites are the castles and town walls of King Edward, in Gwynedd, the Blaenavon industrial landscape, in Blaenau Gwent, and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal, in Wrexham.

The Barmouth Bridge - also known as the Barmouth Viaduct - was under threat when a mollusc known as the toledo worm, which bores into submerged wood, was found to have damaged parts of the wooden structure in the 1980s.

Heavy locomotives were banned from crossing, which led to the demise of freight traffic along the Cambrian Railway.

The infected wood was replaced and trains now cross the bridge.

 

[The Planner]

Going to go well if they talk to Railtrack then isn't it....

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Going to go well if they talk to Railtrack then isn't it....

That's a good point - I missed that!

 

[splashoutradio]

I'm surprised it's not already listed! It's the selling point for the Cambrian Coast and it's surrounding towns and villages.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

I'm surprised it's not already listed! It's the selling point for the Cambrian Coast and it's surrounding towns and villages.

Yes, very much agree that it should be 'listed'...it probably is somewhere in some scheme or other, but I wonder how many railway structures in the UK are actually listed as a World Heritage site?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-25120851
Calls have been made for a 146-year-old railway bridge to be listed as a World Heritage Site.

Listing is fine, but World Heritage Site is quite another.
I would have thought other sites ought to take precedence, such as the Welsh slate quarries and access railways (eg Ffestiniog).
Barmouth bridge is in a glorious setting but I don't recall it being exceptional for its engineering.
All of the Cambrian is of a piece dating from the 1860s, not especially old or unique.
The Britannia Bridge would have been right up there, but it was butchered after the fire in 1969.
In its absence the smaller Conwy tubular bridge (1849) would get my vote.

 

[snowball]

Pont Briwet is listed but has still been approved for demolition once the replacement bridge is complete.

Not a World Hertitage site though.

 

[swcovas]

Listing is fine, but World Heritage Site is quite another.
I would have thought other sites ought to take precedence, such as the Welsh slate quarries and access railways (eg Ffestiniog).
Barmouth bridge is in a glorious setting but I don't recall it being exceptional for its engineering.
All of the Cambrian is of a piece dating from the 1860s, not especially old or unique.
The Britannia Bridge would have been right up there, but it was butchered after the fire in 1969.
In its absence the smaller Conwy tubular bridge (1849) would get my vote.

Without going into the debate as to whether Barmouth bridge should or should not be listed, it's worth pointing out that age is not necessarily an important criteria for listing as there are a number of sites all over the world which also date from the 19th century such as Saltaire in the UK. As for Barmouth bridge's uniqueness, I am not so sure.