Black Bridge

Black Bridge is a road bridge over Copperhouse Creek, built in the early 19th century by the Cornish Copper Company.

The bridge is constructed from copper slag blocks, known as scoria, with some areas repaired using brick. The carriageway is gravelled. It features two spans oriented from north-west to south-east. The ends of the bridge are splayed where they meet the embankments, which have battered walls. The north span is taller and has a segmental and asymmetrical shape, being higher at the abutment end, while the south arch is round.

The bridge is primarily faced with coursed rectangular scoria blocks, which are mortared except at lower levels. Scoria blocks also form the arch-rings and the paving across the channels beneath the arches. Limited brickwork is used to fill the irregular shapes where the blockwork courses approach the curves of the arch-rings. The parapet coping consists of scoria blocks that are edge-set and moulded to create a pointed arch profile.

On the north side of the bridge, there is a dam made up of three large shuttered-concrete blocks, each 0.6 meters thick and 1.6 meters high. These blocks are separated by two sluice gate gaps, each 1.6 meters wide and 1 meter deep, which narrow to slender gaps between the bases of the blocks. The sluice structure is likely from the Second World War period.