Red Bridge, Campbell Town
Jan. 15th, 2014 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithNo post last night due to it melting in heat. So I declare that Bridge Week is now Bridge Fortnight instead :)
Anyway, this is the Red Bridge at Campbell Town. From the road it is a rather dull sort of bridge.
But from the river bank it is an attractive brick bridge. Brick bridges are unusual in this little corner of the world. I can't think of any others off-hand. Stone is usual building material, or concrete, timber, steel, wire.
It has another unusual trait, not apparent in the photos. It's part of the National Highway (which is actually a series of highways), and probably the oldest bridge that is. The older ones, like at Ross, having been bypassed.
Not a lot on the web about the Red Bridge. There is, however, a panel beside the bridge that gives some of its history. So I'll copy the parts of that which deal with the construction, in italics.
Lieutenant-Governor Arthur laid the foundation stone of the Red Bridge on 21st October, 1836 and work commenced the following year. The bridge took fifteen months to construct and was completed in July 1838. From the start, better behave convict labour was to be used, paid by a vote of money from the Legislative Council, set at six pence per day for each man. Much of the labour force came from prisoners in the local gaol.
The top stones are pinned together with iron staples bearing the broad arrows. All freestone was brought from Ross [12 km down the road] by hand sledges pulled by six convicts, three on each side.
The bricks were fired in wood kilns at above 600 degrees centigrade, there being large temperature variations used. They were well fired in the arches and under-fired in the walls and parapets. The clay was extracted on the south eastern side of the bridge. It has been calculated that more than 1,5000,000 bricks were used in the construction.
The parapet walls show a regular grid of crossed, emphasised by over burned bricks. This was said to be a bricklayer's trick that was used for centuries throughout Britain.
Originally constructed for horse drawn vehicles only, the bride takes 1,200,000 vehicles annually and no major repair work has ever been necessary.
Also it has ducks.
The "training walls" were constructed to change the course of the river. You can see the original course on Google maps.
Anyway, this is the Red Bridge at Campbell Town. From the road it is a rather dull sort of bridge.
But from the river bank it is an attractive brick bridge. Brick bridges are unusual in this little corner of the world. I can't think of any others off-hand. Stone is usual building material, or concrete, timber, steel, wire.
It has another unusual trait, not apparent in the photos. It's part of the National Highway (which is actually a series of highways), and probably the oldest bridge that is. The older ones, like at Ross, having been bypassed.
Not a lot on the web about the Red Bridge. There is, however, a panel beside the bridge that gives some of its history. So I'll copy the parts of that which deal with the construction, in italics.
Lieutenant-Governor Arthur laid the foundation stone of the Red Bridge on 21st October, 1836 and work commenced the following year. The bridge took fifteen months to construct and was completed in July 1838. From the start, better behave convict labour was to be used, paid by a vote of money from the Legislative Council, set at six pence per day for each man. Much of the labour force came from prisoners in the local gaol.
The top stones are pinned together with iron staples bearing the broad arrows. All freestone was brought from Ross [12 km down the road] by hand sledges pulled by six convicts, three on each side.
The bricks were fired in wood kilns at above 600 degrees centigrade, there being large temperature variations used. They were well fired in the arches and under-fired in the walls and parapets. The clay was extracted on the south eastern side of the bridge. It has been calculated that more than 1,5000,000 bricks were used in the construction.
The parapet walls show a regular grid of crossed, emphasised by over burned bricks. This was said to be a bricklayer's trick that was used for centuries throughout Britain.
Originally constructed for horse drawn vehicles only, the bride takes 1,200,000 vehicles annually and no major repair work has ever been necessary.
Also it has ducks.
The "training walls" were constructed to change the course of the river. You can see the original course on Google maps.
