Ruthernbridge

Ruthernbridge (Cornish: Ponsrudhyn)[1] is a village in the parish of Withiel in Cornwall, England, UK.[2]

Ruthernbridge

The postbox at Ruthernbridge
Ruthernbridge
Location within Cornwall
OS grid referenceSX 01293 66832
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBODMIN
Postcode districtPL30
Dialling code01208
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament

The early 15th-century bridge with two pointed arches carries the road over the River Ruthern.[3]

When the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway (B&W) was built in 1834 it included a short branch of about 1.25 miles (2.01 km) from Grogley Junction to Ruthernbridge. Although not a requirement, the B&W placed stone markers every quarter of a mile, and a marker stone at each terminus showing the distance to the company's headquarters in Wadebridge, that at Ruthernbridge showing a distance of 4 miles 1 furlong 5 chains 10 yards.[4][5] The main use of the line was to carry sand to local farms for use as a soil improver while ores of Lead, Iron and Copper from Mulberry Mine and Iron from Blackhay Mine were taken out.[6][7] Although there was never an official passenger service on the branch and no platform or other facilities were provided, passengers were carried in the tool wagon.[5] The original terminus had two sidings, one of which ran over wooden sand drops, and in 1914 a loop long enough to accommodate 8 wagons was installed 6 chains (120 m) up the line towards Grogley, the line being shortened to this location in 1926.[8] The line ran along a lane for almost the whole length falling at a gentle incline of 1 in 158, this requiring any wagons left at Ruthernbridge to be chained to the rails to prevent them running away.[4] In later years the only engines to work the branch were Beattie well tanks, which would work chimney-first to Ruthernbridge and then propel their train back to the junction as there were no run-round facilities as Grogley.[4] The last train to Ruthernbridge ran on 29 November 1933 and the line officially closed on 30 December that year, less than 1 year short of its centenary.[8]

Trackbed of the branch line to Ruthernbridge in 2020

References
  1. Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel. Cornish Language Partnership.
  2. Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 Newquay & Bodmin (Map). Ordnance Survey. ISBN 978-0-319-22938-5.
  3. Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall; 2nd ed., revised by Enid Radcliffe. Harmondsworth: Penguin; p. 241
  4. Fairclough, Tony; Wills, Alan (1979). Bodmin and Wadebridge 1834-1978. Truro: D Bradford Barton. pp. 40–41. ISBN 0 85153 343 4.
  5. Fairclough, Tony (1970). The Story of Cornwall's Railways. Truro: Tor Mark Press. pp. 12–14.
  6. Ingrey, Jack (1989). The Camel Footpath : From Wadebridge to Bodmin and Wenfordbridge. Cornish Walkabout Books. Padstow: Lodenek Press. p. 30. ISBN 0 946143 14 X Check |isbn= value: checksum (help).
  7. "Blackhay Mine, Withiel". mindat.org. 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  8. Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1996). Branch lines around Bodmin. Midhurst: Middleton Press. pp. 28–29. ISBN 1 873793 83 9.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.