While archaeologists were able to find evidence of Anglo-Saxon and Roman fortification in Chepstow, they have been able to find something else that is quite interesting and marvelous. Interestingly, the town was found to house a prehistoric bridge that connected Wales and England before both of these specific areas came to be.
Prehistoric England-Wales Bridge in Chepstow
The distinct bridge structure is thought to have been constructed by the Romans around two millennia ago. It was found preserved and buried in the mud.
When the area was at an extremely low tide, archaeologists had to pick up their pace to unravel the unique structure. As such, they only had two hours to dig it out and needed the assistance of specialized rescue teams due to the task's perilous nature.
The archaeological experts from Chepstow Archaeological Society (CAS) received help from Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) members. The latter group helped the team of archaeological specialists by using mud stretchers.
Simon Maddison, who is from CAS, explains that the mud was extremely sticky and dense and that they got stuck in it quite frequently. Maddison adds that the digging task would have been impossibly dangerous without SARA's assistance.
The specialists were able to collect samples of the timbers of the prehistoric bridge structure. The samples are set to undergo carbon dating in order to determine the exact age of the bridge. As such, until the analysis is done and results are revealed, the exact period and dating of the structure remain a mystery.
This prehistoric bridge offered a route link between England and Wales from roughly half a mile (0.8 kilometers) upstream of Chepstow to Gloucestershire's Tutshill village.
Initially, the bridge was discovered and minimally excavated in 1911. Dr. Orville Owen was behind this initial excavation. It was also present in an earlier Ordnance Survey map in the same period.
However, since then, the bridge has been buried under the mud. Maddison adds that the structure's existence was documented but that they did not know where it was exactly situated. It was detective work in drawings found in the Chepstow Museum that aided the archaeologists to find and retrieve the structure's exact location.
The Old Wye Bridge
Aside from this newly found structure, there is another known bridge, The Old Wye Bridge or Chepstow Bridge, that was constructed near Chepstow Castle. It stretches across River Wye and links Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire.
The bridge was built in 1816 with stone and cast iron. Standing the test of time, it has then been categorized as a Grade I listed building. It is considered the largest iron arch road bridge in the world from the first five decades of steel and iron construction.
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