History

Built in 1812 as part of a tramroad between Howler's Slade at Coleford and Monmouth and known as Monmouth Tramroad. This bridge lay on a branch serving the Redbrook Tinplate Works mainly for delivering coal, and it required an incline because it stood so far below the main tramroad. The rail connection was closed in 1928 but the Redbrook Tinplate Works, which made the thinnest sheet steel in the world, did not close until 1961.

Exterior

The bridge is built of coursed blocks of red Forest of Dean sandstone conglomerate, with dressed voussoirs to the arches. It consists of a single round headed arch about 3.15m in height spanning the B4231 with a circular opening uphill on the north-east side. To the south-east are three low arches, the northernmost one with a stream running under it. The top surface of the bridge is 6m wide with parapets 1m high on both sides which are capped by flat stone slabs. The width of the bridge is clear indication that this was a self-acting incline with two lines of rails. Where it crosses the Redbrook on the south it enters England and a part of the structure is thus in Gloucestershire (Redbrook civil parish, Forest of Dean D C).

Reasons for Listing

Included for its special interest as an unusual and rare tramway bridge built on a steep incline.
Scheduled Ancient Monument: MM203(MON).

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Redbrook Incline Bridge at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17737980

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)