The late 19th century bridge at Bridge Sollers being demolished in Summer 2003.

The old bridge across the Wye was built (partially by public subscription) in 1896 and consisted of three separate spans on four circular piers.  The abutments were of coursed stone with massive copings. The bridge was built as part of a scheme to build three road bridges across the Wye to replaced ferries. The ferry at Bridge Sollers was situated close to the site of a house some 150 yards to the north, at that time the Salmon Inn.

The bridge at the time of its construction in 1896 cost £3,600 of which £900 was contributed by the late Rev GH Davenport, of Foxley, who also donated the stone for the bridge.

There were solid stone foundations on both banks of the river, with two iron pillar supports in mid stream carrying the iron bridge, which was of the railway viaduct type. The stonework was of a well dressed rusticated type with a projecting string course of a simple roll moulding. The top of the abutments were finished using overhanging coping stones with a pyramid shaped top.

For the first visible metre above ground level, the inner face of the east abutment was made up of thin stones. Above this the stonework became much thicker and irregular in its coursing. Presumably these first few courses were laid for levelling and strength. Also seen on this face were a number of irregularly placed drainage holes to help drain the water off from the higher ground level to the east of the bridge.

The bridge was in a poor state of preservation, having major structural breaks in the stonework and severe rusting in the cast iron pillar supports. Several bands of strengthening strap work could be seen on both pillars. At some stage, extra concrete had been added to the west abutment in a series of steps down to the river and footings around the east pillar. The sheer volume of traffic had compounded the stress factors to the bridge and it was finally condemned.

Photograph taken by Alfred Watkins  showing the frontage of the Salmon Inn c1880 (courtesy of Ron Shoesmith)

The first phase of archaeological work here was an evaluation excavation carried out immediately to the north of the eastern approach to the bridge.

The evaluation revealed six deposits:

1     Topsoil of between 0.10m and 0.25m

2     A deposit up to 0.50m thick, consisting of a mix of mid-red silty clay and gravel and small stones.  This    deposit appeared in the SE edge of the trench and was of an irregular edge and depth.

3     A mid pinkish brown humic silt with circa 10% small rounded gravels, about 0.40m thick.

4     A colluvium of mid-pinkish brown silt, up to 0.35m thick.  This deposit tapered out roughly 7.5m from the SW end of the trench.  Similar yet distinguishable from the layer above, this deposit contained both charcoal flecks and fragments, and a scatter of very abraded medieval potsherds.

5      A colluvium of pale pinkish-brown silt with circa 5% gravels, about 0.25m thick.

6      A pale yellowish brown silty clay, of a platey texture interpreted as the top of the alluvium.

The pottery from layer 4 consisted of small sherds of earthenware.  These were all abraded and appear to have been affected by the action of running water as they have no clean breaks or sharp edges.  The assemblage contains few diagnostic sherds so it is difficult to state what types of vessel are represented.  The bulk of the assemblage would appear to be either unglazed earthenware black cooking pot (ten sherds) or the B4 Malvernian type fabric (eight sherds).  The latter are probably derived from hollow wares.  The assemblage   has been provisionally dated to the 13^th or 14^th centuries AD.

Layers 1 and 3 contained a small amount of modern (twentieth century) material such as glass, nails, wire and a pair of pliers.

Apart from layer 4, the pre-modern layers produced no evidence of archaeological activity and amount to colluvium overlying alluvium.

The pottery and charcoal from layer 4 was suspected to have originated from the site of a nearby deserted medieval village, thought to be in the vicinity of Bridge Sollers church.  Layer 4 may represent outwash from the stream that used to run down to meet the river somewhere close to the later position of the bridge.

The evaluation was followed by a programme of monitoring during earth-moving associated with the demolition of the old bridge and its replacement with a new one.

Work took place over a long period of time in different phases, but in general there were two main areas excavated. Area (1)  was on the eastern bank of the river, directly south of the bridge, and area (2) was on the western bank and north of the bridge

Area 1 (East Bank): Compound area

Directly south of the embankment, an area of 18.5m was excavated which ran in an east-west direction. The east end was a continuation of the excavation in area 1. From here the topsoil was taken off to a depth of approximately 300mm. A gradual slope in excavation was created and at  the west end, which finished directly at the river bank, this was dug to a depth of 4.8m from the top of the existing river bank. This area was marsh land and had to be stripped to give construction vehicles complete assess to dismantling and re-erection of the bridge. As the banks along the river Wye are protected, rarer plant species from around the marsh area were relocated to an excavated area west of the compound, attached to the end of the drainage trench. With the exception of bricks and fragments of modern pottery, no other finds were observed. The stripped area was then covered with  a membrane seal and over this scalpings were laid.

North of the embankment another area, 14.4m wide, was stripped of its topsoil to a depth of no more than 350mm. Again this was to improve access for construction vehicles. The outline of the trench excavated during the previous evaluation was visible, as was the cut of the edge of the later embankment. No other features, or any finds were observed during excavation of this area.

Area 2 (West bank)

A large area, 25m wide, was excavated on the north side of the embankment, down to a depth of 500mm. This was to provide better access for construction vehicles during the dismantling and erection of the bridge. The area followed the curve of the road, and finished at the barns belonging to Bridge Farm. A field drain was observed running east-west, with its eastern end draining into the river. Only unstratified finds were recovered from the spoil heap and these were dated to the 20th Century. No features were encountered, and the ground was later covered in a membrane and scalpings.

All hedges along the road that were removed during the dismantling are to be reinstated. Stonework from the bridge was re-used.

Reporting

These reports are available at the Archaeological Data Service site - click report names to view or download

Unpublished report - Bridge Sollers, Herefordshire: archaeological evaluation - Huw Sherlock and Gwynfor Maurice, 2003

Unpublished report - Bridge Sollers, Herefordshire: archaeological monitoring - Clementine Lovell and Marge Feryok, 2004.

Copies of these reports are held in the reference section of Hereford City Library. Clem Lovell

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