ON APRIL 26, Brian Davies spoke to the members of Dinas Powys Probus Club about the life of William Edwards, bridge builder, town planner and religious minister, who is best remembered as the builder of the first stone bridge over the River Taff at Pontypridd.

Brian had been curator of the museums at Pontypridd and The Big Pit at Blaenavon.

The very earliest stone bridge had been built at Penrhys in the upper Glamorgan valley to help pilgrims making their way to holy sites in West Wales but bridges over the Taff were of timber, these to help farmers get to the markets in Caerphilly. In 1751, the local authorities decided that a new substantial timber bridge was required at Pontypridd and commissioned William Edwards to undertake the work.

The contract sum was £500 and a guaranteed life of seven years was included in the agreement. Edwards was a local builder with no experience of bridge building but he was awarded the work.

Within 12 months an exceptional flood had destroyed the bridge, and the replacement bridge suffered the same fate 12 months later. In 1755 the third timber construction collapsed into the river.

Poor Edwards, constrained by his contract to provide a bridge was now in financial difficulty but further finance was made available to help him and in 1756, he successfully designed and built a stone bridge which stands to this day.

To reduce the weight of the structure, his design incorporated three holes of varying diameters through the full width of each abutment. The bridge weighs 1,000 tons and has a clear span of 140 feet. This exceeded the famed Rialto bridge in Venice which has a span of only 95 feet.

In 2006, the whole town turned out in period costumes to mark the 250th Anniversary of the bridge.

After building other bridges in Wales, Edwards began working for John Morris, a wealthy industrialist, and laid out the first street plan for a small village which later became Morriston. Together they built housing for Morris’s workers and churches for non-conformist congregations.

Alongside his other interests, Edwards had involved himself in the Methodist/non-conformist church and in 1743 was appointed a lay preacher at Groeswen church. The church rapidly out-grew its first building and in 1766, he built a Meeting House.

By 1772, the church at Groeswen was a major religious centre in the area and people came from Caerphilly to join in the services.

Edwards died in 1789, aged 70, having been a minister at Groeswen for 45 years.

The vote of thanks was given by Gwyn McGuire.