In Warminster And District Archive magazine, No.3, Summer 1989, Danny Howell writes:
Bishopstrow’s Cast Iron Footbridge Restored
In a recent slide-show I gave about some of the interesting historical features in the Wylye Valley I drew attention to the little cast-iron footbridge over the mill race, just south of Bishopstrow Mill (ST897439). The bridge is believed to be early 19th century (not recorded as a county bridge on an 1887 map), and some people have asked me if it is the work of Carson & Miller, who were in business as iron founders at the Wiltshire Foundry in Carson’s Yard, off East Street, Warminster, between 1816 and 1841. As yet, I have not come across any documentary evidence to confirm that the bridge is the work of Carson & Miller, and the structure itself bears no maker’s mark. Carson & Miller appear to have inscribed all their work with either their names or their initials (for example – the gates at the Non-Conformist Cemetery, Boreham Road, Warminster, and on mile posts and boundary markers in the local area), and the lack of any such marks would suggest it is not their craftsmanship.
By 1989 the bridge was beginning to show signs of wear and tear, and was missing some of its intermediate upright posts and their connecting chain. I thought it a great pity that one of my favourite pieces of local industrial archaeology was lacking some of its original finery, particularly so when a Department of the Environment survey (compiled some years ago) acclaims it as “An elegant example of a simple bridge design.” I was, therefore, delighted to notice at the end of April 1989 that someone had sympathetically renewed all sixteen of the bridge’s intermediate posts, and connected them up, and also attended to the brickwork on the riverbank beneath the bridge ends. The transformation of the structure, in its splendid setting, is quite remarkable, and I heartily applauded the action that had brought the improvement. Indeed, I wrote a letter to the Warminster Journal to publicly thank whoever was responsible.
I soon discovered that engineer Dave Weston and his team from the County Council were the restorers, and that they too were extremely pleased with the work they had done. The instigator of the improvements was Mrs. G. Proudman, who lives at the Mill House, Bishopstrow, only a stone’s throw away from the bridge. She wrote to me: “It has taken five years and approaches to English Heritage, Wiltshire Conservation, YTS, and the Council, to achieve the restoration of the iron bridge at Bishopstrow. I think it was when I pointed out that the bridge was illustrated on the title page of the Bishopstrow Conservation Area pamphlet that the Council took an interest. Their work of restoration took a long time but I agree is very well done. Personally I would have liked to see it painted black (instead of just rusty) but I am told by the conservationists that there is no scrap of evidence of original painting, and so it is better left untouched.”
I would like, through Archive, to thank Mrs. Proudman, Dave Weston and his colleagues, and the County Council, for their successful efforts with regards the renovation of Bishopstrow’s little cast-iron bridge. Once more, walkers and lovers of the countryside can admire a piece of our local heritage as they stroll along the footpath between Bishopstrow Mill and St. Aldhelm’s Church – one of the loveliest walks in the district.