Welsh Journals

INSCRIPTIONS ON BRIDGES IN CEREDIGION There are over a hundred inscriptions on bridges in Ceredigion, varying from a simple date to long accounts of the circumstances of the erection of the bridge. These inscriptions seem to be of sufficient historical interest to make it worth compiling a systematic list of them, and no such list has yet been published. I have visited all the bridges that I know of in the county, and have taken rubbings of all the inscriptions that are in sufficiently good condition, but I have undoub- tedly missed some and would be glad to hear of any omissions from the list. In some cases an inscription from an earlier bridge has been built into the structure of a later bridge, and although it is to this practice that we owe the preservation of many inscriptions, it does mean that one should be very careful before drawing conclusions about the age of the present structure of a bridge from any inscription found on it. Were more new bridges still provided with plaques commemorating their erection, the loss of old plaques would not be so much regretted, but only one newly built bridge has had a properly carved inscription placed on it during the last forty years (even at Pont Einon a fine plaque of 1972 is placed on the old, not the new bridge.) In these circumstances, one must hope that whenever an old bridge is replaced, any inscription on it will be preserved it may be galling to those responsible to see the name of an earlier builder or surveyor on their bridge, but the proper solution is to add a further inscription recording the circumstances of the rebuilding, as is done, for example, on many chapels. There is a natural wastage of inscriptions. Some have deteriorated with age (e.g. on Pont Felin-cwrrws, 1840), or been damaged by vehicles (e.g. on Pont Rhyd-y-groes, 1893), or been partly buried by tarmac as the level of the road is raised (e.g. on Pont y Pump, Llan- grannog, 1884) or lost when a bridge is washed away. Some may be presumed to have been removed (e.g. at Penbryn, where the niche that once contained a plaque can still be seen). Some have been des- troyed when a bridge was rebuilt (e.g. the iron plaques of 1900 at Tre'r-dd61). Most of the inscriptions are on plaques, but several are on a normal stone or other unemphasised part of the structure. Most are set into the inner side of the parapet, so that they can be easily read from the road or pathway. The comparatively few inscriptions that are in positions where they are difficult to see (e.g. three of the four oldest in the county, on Cardigan, Llechryd and Henllan bridges), are likely