Bridging The Rivers At Pontypridd
Posted by Stuart Herbert @ 6:33 PM, Sun 10 May 09
Filed under: Merthyr Road, Modern, Pontypridd, Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway, River Taff, Shoot, Taff Vale Railway (Modern-day Valley Lines), Tramroad, Treforest
7 Comments
Pontypridd stands on the banks of the River Taff and the River Rhondda as the gateway to the valleys beyond – and the mineral and coal riches that were exploited between the late 1700’s and the 1980’s. From its first bridge in 1750, built to allow travel to market without crossing a deadly river ford, via what is possibly the world’s oldest surviving railway bridge, to the modern road bridges of today, it has always been necessary to bridge the rivers at Pontypridd in order to get from A to B.
Thoughts On The Day
I was taking a week off between jobs to get my annoyance with my former boss’s behaviour out of my system, and it was a real relief to get out and about with the camera. The weather was lovely, and what could be better than a walk through Pontypridd taking shots of the different bridges that have sprung up in this market town?
I’m always surprised at how Pontypridd has failed to capitalise on Cardiff’s growth. Why hasn’t it become a booming commuter town for everyone who can’t afford the house prices down in Cardiff itself? Sitting at the very northern end of the Taff Vale, the old TVR railway splits north of Ponty to take travellers up the Rhondda Valley to Treherbert, up the Cynon Valley to Aberdare, and up the Taff Valley to Merthyr Tydfil. That gives Ponty three times the amount of trains passing through each day.
Today, Pontypridd feels more important to the folks who travel down from those valleys than anyone else, marking as it does the half-way point in the journey from the tops of the valleys down to Cardiff. I guess the history of its bridges shows that Pontypridd has always been a place people travel through rather than a destination in its own right.
Favourite Photo From The Shoot
It wasn’t easy to pick just one photo from this group, but this is the one that I like the most. I just think it does a great job of showing off a very beautiful bridge 
The Photos
Here are all of the photos from this photo shoot. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Post Production
This set of photos marks the start of the next evolution in my photographic style. I’ve been using HDR for several months now, but this time I was determined to put together a workflow that brings the HDR images closer in initial appearance to regular, single-frame photos. Before HDR, my favourite style had been the slightly desaturated look of the Taff Vale Eastern Ridge Walk set. What I wanted was that look, but with the added detail that HDR brings. Too many HDR photos just lack a certain subtlety – as do too many single exposure shots, it has to be said!
Since taking these photos a year ago now, I’ve refined the HDR workflow over and over before finally coming back to these photos and re-processing them for publication at last. I promise that I’ll do a full article on the workflow in the near future, but the main points are to avoid over-saturating the original HDR image, and then using Aperture 2’s new Saturation and Definition tools to bring out the best of the HDR detail whilst toning down its exuberance at the same time.
Sadly, I’ve been too short of time to thoroughly research each of the bridges in this set. There’s also one bridge missing – Brunel’s bridge that carries the Taff Vale Railway north from Pontypridd station over the River Rhondda towards Abercynon. I only noticed that whilst doing the write-up. Doh!
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7 Comments
May 12th, 2009 at 11:47 am
I’m from Pontypridd, know the area well, and the sites of your picuturs, I must say, they really stand out. I like the way you’ve set the angle for the old bridge over the Taff. But yes, the photo you have of the bridge opposite Castle Street does look grand.
Anyway, check out my blog site, there are few photo there on Orkney, in black and white, not my photos, the link is in the blog “A little bit of whisky”
will be watching for more photos in the future.
Regards,
Roy.
May 12th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
@roy: many thanks. I’ll definitely check out your blog!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Doctor’s Bridge or Machine Bridge at Pontypridd is a three-arched stone viaduct over the River Taff, extensively remodelled with later accretions and carried one carriageway of a road, which formerly carried Dr. Richard Griffiths’ Tramroad connecting collieries in the Rhondda Valley, via the Doctor’s Canal , with the Glamorganshire Canal . A weighing machine for coal trams was installed nearby hence the local name given to the bridge.I believe it is listed as the oldest railway bridge/viaduct in the country. As mentioned earlier it was remodeled and widened to take the road. This widening used a concrete structure attached to it’s southern side.The steel structure found attached to the road surface was to strengthen the bridge so it could cope with modern traffic. It is ironic that it was the newer part of the bridge that could’nt cope. The concrete structure found on the side of Machine bridge was of a design and technology that links to another bridge on the Taff. It is obvious from the photograph of the Llancaich railway bridge that you used it as a vantage point, but you do not appear to have photographed the bridge you stood on.Perhaps you did not appreciate it’s technical importance.
It is one of several reinforced concrete bridges in S Wales built on the system developed by the well known French engineer Francois Hennebique, who lived in S Wales for part of his life and was for a time the French consul for the area. The bridge has a central span of 116 ft and side spans of 25ft. The width of the parapets is 26ft. The main span has three parabolic arched ribs at 12ft centres, braced at intervals. The longitudinal beams supporting the deck are supported by columns off the ribs over the outer thirds of the span, the arch itself serves as direct support to the deck over the middle third. The side spans have their outer main beams arched to match the center span.I know that reinforced concrete bridges are an eyesore, but when the bridge was built it was revolutionary!
June 11th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
The Abercynon Iron Bridge is a bit of an enigma. I know there is a dated plaque bearing the date of 1850, but I have seen photographs and engravings circa 1900, showing a different bridge in this position. the bridge is wider than the present footbridge. Certain evidence for this is the size of the abutments on the Taff Vale Park side. These are a lot wider than the present bridge. [See what went under here?].As well as leading to the canal the bridge also serviced Glyntaff halt.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:15 am
I REMEMBER THAT THERE WAS A RAILWAY BRIDGE AT THE TOP END OF BROADWAY THAT TOOK THE LINE FROM PONTYPRIDD RAILWAY STATION ACROSS TO PENTREBACH ROAD WHERE THERE WAS ANOTHER BRIDGE AT WHAT WAS THEN GLYNTAFF SIDINGS AND A DEPOT FOR FYFFES BANANAS. THE LINE CONTINUED ON TO CAERPHILLY AND NEWPORT. I BELIEVE THAT THERE WAS A” HALT ” AT DYNEA. THIS WAS IN THE 1950s PRIOR TO THE MOTORWAY BEING BUILT.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Quite by chance, I have been looking over some old books of Pontypridd. In one,”Victorian Pontypridd” by Don Powell, there is a photograph of the old Glamorgan canal looking south towards Glyntaff. In this picture, it can clearly be seen the old Abercynon Iron Bridge. This is from a different view to the photographs I remembered, but clearly shows, that this bridge is of a different construction to the present structure. It is more boxlike in form and wider. I have no idea, when this bridge was replaced or why? An engraving of this area was also on the RCT History web site.
March 12th, 2010 at 8:36 am
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