Bridge over
This Watery Wednesday to the almost-still Coal River in Richmond (a far cry from the raging torrent that we visited back in June last year). Yet is not so much the water as the bridge itself that has got me thinking...
It says something about a country when your oldest bridge still in use - the heritage listed Richmond Bridge - only dates back to 1825. As you can see on the bridge itself, the foundation stone was laid in 1823 and the thing itself was constructed using convict labour (the sandstone was quarried nearby and hauled to the site using hand carts) until it eventual completion one hundred and eighty-seven years ago. All this is a far cry from some of those other bridges that you might have visited, like the Kapellbrücke (1333), the Charles Bridge (1357), Si-o-se Pol (1602), or the good-as-new Alcántara Bridge (106) [!!!]
All of a sudden, 1823 doesn't quite seem that far away.
2 comments:
I remember when I first popped overseas, I stayed in a house that was built in the 14th century. Even Pont Neuf, a young'un by European standards, is more than twice as old as Richmond Bridge.
Not knocking Tassie, of course, but I think on the whole, we could do with a bit of perspective.
We can get a bit silly at times...
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