Pant Bridge

Pant Bridge is a bridge built between 1794 and 1797, designed and constructed by William Jessop and Thomas Telford. It is made entirely of red brick and features a chamfered stone coping. A string course runs along the bridge and continues to the piers at the eastern end, but is interrupted by a stone-built tramway extension on the western side. The bridge has a segmental arch that allows the canal and its associated brick towpath with stone coping to pass underneath. The tramway span also includes a brick-lined segmental arch, while the rest of this section is made of stone, topped with dressed stone chamfered coping. This part of the bridge is slightly wider than the earlier section that spans the canal.

The arched brick bridge (no. 88) crosses the Montgomery Canal at Pant and was constructed to support the Llanymynech branch of the Ellesmere Canal, which served the significant lime workings at Llanymynech, located about a mile south of the bridge. The canal became part of the Shropshire Union in 1846 and was in use until 1936. Later, a mainly stone-built span was added to the original western end of the bridge to accommodate a tramway leading from Pant Quarry to a small wharf just south of the bridge.

The bridge at Pant is an important feature of an industrial landscape developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is well-preserved and enhances our understanding and appreciation of early transport systems.