History

In 1790s a consortium of coal owners and industrialists sought Parliamentary approval to build canals to link the industrial areas of the N valleys with Newport on the Usk estuary, the canals in turn to link with a system of feeder tramroads. Bill received assent in 1792 and the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation Company was formed to build two canals; that in the Western Valley, also known as the Crumlin Arm and 11 miles long, was designed to join the Eastern Valley Canal just N of Newport, completed c 1797, engineer Thomas Dadford. Reservoirs to feed canal were constructed in mountain valleys. In 1865 the Brecknock and Abergavenny and Monmouthshire Canals merged to become the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal which was later incorporated into the Great Western Railway. Much of the Western Valley canal was filled in to provide a by-pass road but the section through Risca mostly survives, continuing on from the surviving Crosskeys section. The Sirhowy tramroad built at the expense of the Sirhowy and Tredegar ironmasters from their furnaces in the north valleys to Nine Mile Point, at the bottom of the Sirhowy Valley, N of Risca was completed 1805, linking with the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company tramroad via the Long Bridge, crossing the Ebbw Valley.

Exterior

See Record number 21007 in Crosskeys Community for full description of this bridge.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a late C18 canal bridge retaining its character.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)