Probus Club hear talk on 18th Century bridge builder

William Edwards was born at Ty Canol Farm, near Caerphilly in 1719, the youngest of seven children. Tragically, when he was just seven years of age his father was swept away whilst trying to ford a swollen river Taff on his return to Caerphilly from Llantrisant market.

The family were forced to move from Ty Canol farm to a poorer mountain farm known as Bryn Tail farm overlooking Glyntaff, Pontypridd. Like his siblings Edwards was obliged to earn money in any way possible to support the family. He had no formal education and whilst just 20 years of age his expertise in repairing dry stone walls was noted by local farmers who paid him for his stonework.

It is said that he closely examined how Caerphilly castle was constructed, and studied the work of local stone masons to perfect his craft. He progressed to constructing stone barns and workshops, and was then approached by the local councillors to construct a stone bridge over the River Taff at Pontypridd, something which was a first for him.

He was paid £500 and in addition to building the bridge he was expected to maintain it for a period of seven years. His first attempt was a bridge with three arches, but unfortunately the year following brought the most severe flooding on the River Taff which swept away the river banks upstream, including large trees which crashed into the archways bringing the bridge down.

Under the terms of his seven year contract he was obliged to try again, but his second and third attempts were thwarted by severe flooding and collapsed into the river. Edwards then realised that the bridge would have to be a single span across the river, but his genius was in realising that he would need to make three large cylindrical holes in the stonework on each side thereby reducing the weight on the keystone by hundreds of tons.

In 1754 the then Duke of York wrote an article in a gentleman's magazine about his trip to Venice showing a photograph of the Rialto Bridge claiming that the 95ft span was the longest of any bridge in Europe. This article was seen by a friend of Edwards who pointed out that the bridge over the River Taff spanned 140ft and was certainly the longest bridge span in Europe, possible in the world at that time.

This spectacular bridge drew the attention of many artists who painted the bridge from all aspects against the mountain backdrop. Richard Wilson of Montgomeryshire was one of the early ones, and his finished article so impressed Catherine the Great of Russia that she commissioned the making of a massive 964 piece dinner service embossed with Wilson’s painting of Edwards Bridge.

She invited Edwards to Russia but he declined. This story in itself is incredible, but we were told that Edwards was in fact only a part time bridge builder because his main occupation was a church minister.

In his early 20’s he became heavily involved in religion and in 1742 a place of worship was built at Groeswen under the supervision of Edwards who later led a breakaway group from the Methodist Church and formed the first Calvinistic Church in Wales, together with its own burial ground. He insisted on this being a paid post, not for his own sake but for whoever followed him.

His life was devoted to the Church; in fact the greater part of his life was spent as a church minister. In addition to building a number of other bridges in Wales, including those at Usk, Aberdovey, Llandovery, and Betws, he also built over the river Tawe and became involved with John Morris in the town planning of Morriston which took Morris’s name. Quite an achievement for a man with no formal education, but with sufficient determination, drive and foresight to make his mark on Wales.