Slater's Bridge

Slater's Bridge is a traditional packhorse bridge in Little Langdale in the English Lake District, standing at National Grid Reference NY3120502996.^[1]

Slater's Bridge
Coordinates	54.41783°N 3.06165°W / 54.41783; -3.06165
Crosses	River Brathay
Locale	Little Langdale, Cumbria
Statistics
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Slater's Bridge
Designated	12 January 1967
Reference no.	1245295[1]
Location

History and construction

The bridge dates back to the 17th century, and became a listed building in 1967.^[1] Built of slate, it consists of a 15-foot (4.6 m) segmental arch and a flatter span built of slabs, and incorporates a natural boulder in midstream. The bridge is thought to have been created by miners working in the nearby Tilberthwaite Fells.^[2]

Already in the 19th century, Alexander Craig Gibson called it "an exquisite and unique specimen of a style of bridge all but extinct";^[3] a century later, Alfred Wainwright called it "the most picturesque footbridge in Lakeland, a slender arch constructed of slate from the quarries and built to give the quarrymen a shorter access from their homes".^[4]

Literary associations

The bridge was acclaimed in a 20th-century poem as "...this/exercise in hanging circularity, toppling stress./The rough slate wedges carry their own likeness/on the belly of each, with the grass springing sidewise/at the joins. The bare arch links two valley sides/as though by a handclasp across the sky's reflection".^[5]

See also

• Ashness Bridge
• Birks Bridge
• Listed buildings in Coniston, Cumbria