The Tavistock Canal was built in the 19th century to transport cargo of slate, copper ore, limestone and other goods from Tavistock to Morwellham Quay to be loaded on to ships. Construction was started in 1804 and the main canal was officially opened on 24th June 1817. The canal cost £40,000 which was raised with £50 shares.
This swing bridge features the inscription :-
"The heavy weight of copper ore slowly being pulled by man and beast in harmony...moves so much slower than the world as if encased in a different time"
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, Damian from Winter Foxes has created and updates a list of cachers who has found 10 or more little bridges and can be found here, 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 # xx then name” including spaces so it will get picked up and added to Damian’s list.