A single-arch cast-iron bridge south of Shrewsbury from 1813, approved and perhaps designed by the engineer Thomas Telford
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Cars stopped using this cast-iron bridge back in the 1970s, when a concrete replacement went up right alongside it, but the 1813 arch over the Cound Brook is still there to look at. Thomas Telford, who spent decades reshaping Shropshire’s roads and bridges as the county surveyor, approved the design and may well have drawn it up himself. Four curved iron ribs span the brook in a single arch, with no central pier to block the water below. It’s the only cast-iron bridge Telford approved that still stands in its original spot in Shropshire, closed to traffic now but open to walkers at any time. Acton Burnell Castle, a red sandstone ruin, is a few miles south and easy to add to the same day.
