Devils Backbone Bridge Or Old Bridge

Devil's Backbone Bridge, also known as Old Bridge, is a road bridge over the River Avon, originally designed as a packhorse bridge. It likely dates from the 17th century and was widened, probably in the 18th century or early 19th century. The bridge is constructed of stone rubble with dressed stone arch rings, featuring a large single round arch with a span of about 8 meters. Initially, it was about 2 meters wide overall and possibly did not have parapets. During the widening in the 18th or early 19th century, the bridge was expanded by about 1 meter on the upstream west side, and parapets were added on both sides.

On the downstream east side, the original arch is visible, showing unchamfered double arch rings, with the later parapet corbelled out on large rough slates; the coping of the parapet on this side is made of stone rubble. On the upstream west side, the arch ring is single and also unchamfered, with granite coping on the parapet. The abutments at either end of the bridge splay out and are built on the exposed slate bedrock of the river banks. Additionally, there is a 20th-century buttress on the east side of the north abutment.