Old Iron Bridge, Merthyr Tydfil
The Old Iron Bridge of 1800, originally known simply as Merthyr Bridge before 1809, in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, was a cast-iron bridge across the River Taff. Although an important early example of iron bridge-building and well known as a local landmark within living memory, the bridge has largely disappeared from engineering history. Early iron bridges The Iron Bridge across the Severn near Coalbrookdale opened in 1781 and is generally regarded as the world's first cast-iron bridge. It had little immediate influence on bridge design and few other important iron bridges were built as a result. However a flood in 1795 washed away many bridges on the Severn, but the Iron Bridge survived. This survival had more influence on bridge design, as did the completion of Wearmouth Bridge the following year. Cast iron was now established as a viable material for bridges and a number were produced in the years immediately afterwards. Earlier bridges in Merthyr Richard Crawshay's Cyfarthfa Ironworks was on the West bank of the River Taff, the opposite side from the centre of the developing town. The previous stone bridge had collapsed in the winter of 1798–99. This left the only bridge across the Taff as Jackson's