Fiddlers Elbow bridge is a Grade II* listed structure, achieving the status on 23 October 1989. It is a fine example of an early reinforced concrete arch, having been constructed in 1915, when the design of reinforced concrete (ie concrete in which steel bars are embedded to take the tensile forces) was in its infancy. The rise from the springing at the abutments to the crown of the arch is only 9ft with the span being 90ft. This rise to span ratio of 1 to 10 was exceptionally small for a concrete arch in those days, and the concrete at the crown of the arch is exceptionally thin (6in). These features would call for extreme care in the placing of the reinforcement and the compacting of the concrete (which would almost certainly have been batched by volume, mixed and placed by shovel, and compacted by hand-tamping). In 1972 the Concrete Society were surprised to find the bridge “in an excellent state of preservation”, despite its damp environment.
The Little Bridges series was started by Stanthews in 2009 to highlight small footbridges in remote parts of Wiltshire. Since then the series has been expanded by others all over the country and starting to spread fast. There is a stats listing run by Billiethecat, so you can see how many Little Bridges you have found, you can find it here:- https://littlebridgesseries.wordpress.com/ . If you would like to add to the series, please contact Stan on stanthews@aol.com and he will give you a number for your bridge, to qualify, the bridge must be a foot bridge too small for vehicles, please make sure your title exactly matches “Little Bridges # xxxx then the name” including spaces so it will get picked up and added to stats list.