Page updated 5th July 2016
This is an interesting little
bridge that joins Alphinbrook
Road, Marsh Barton with Riverside Meadows about 1km above the Double
Locks. The wooden floored bridge is swung by hand to allow boats to
pass up the canal. It is only wide enough for a single car and provides
the only vehicular access to the Double
Locks Hotel. Crossing is a bit of an adventure and is accompanied
by the rattle of the wooden boards as the tyres pass over them. The
approach to this bridge is along Clapperbrook Lane, via a very narrow brick built bridge that
crosses the main railway line to Plymouth and Cornwall from St Davids.
A gale swept across Devon on 10 September 1903, wreaking havoc across the county. It was reported that three enormous elms fell across the canal close to the bridge, closing the canal for two days. A window at the Double Locks was also blown in.
The bridge was last renewed in 1965, when a tender was accepted from Messrs Conoley & Co Ltd of Falmouth, for a new steel swing bridge at a cost of £2,800.
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