Ancient Wycoller Bridge

4 May 1998. We had gone for a run out to Wycoller on the border of Bronte Country close to the boundary between Lancashire and Yorkshire.

There are three old bridges to be seen at Wycoller, but two of them will have to remain for future entries.

Here I'm sitting on a huge single slab of stone that forms one of the bridges. The bridge is called Clam Bridge and is an ancient monument. It was set here over a thousand years ago - some descriptions list it as an Iron Age bridge. That would multiply its age somewhat, but whatever the truth of it is; it's an old bridge!

We were lucky to see it in this condition. The following year and again in 1990 it was swept away and broken into two pieces by floods roaring down Wycoller Beck.

Restoration work was done in 1991 to repair the bridge and set it back in place.

You can see from this photo that it is heavily worn along its length. This is the effect of countless generations of feet, with those of the later centuries until the second half of the 20th century being encased in iron-shod clogs.

This bridge is the furthest from the village of Wycoller, so a walk up the path alongside the beck is called for. This is part of the Bronte Way.

On the way you will pass a large barn which has been laid out as an information centre and museum.

It contains this wierd piece of agricultural machinery - actually most pieces of agricultural machinery look wierd don't they? It's an early grass cutter probably more for meadows than your lawn. It has a seat for the operator and would have been pulled by a horse or possibly a wife...

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