Having spent 3.4 million pounds dismantling and remaking Mr James Dredge’s remarkable Victoria suspension bridge in Bath – l think a little weeding wouldn’t go amiss.
I love buddleia – it’s great for attracting butterflies – but across a city-scape, it is also a sign of neglect. You’ll find it growing on derelict sites and in less accessible architectural corners.
The Victoria Bridge – Bath’s own very special suspended footway across the River Avon – is a gateway to a rapidly regenerating area and needs to create the right impression.
It was designed and built by local brewer James Dredge in 1836 and is now Grade 11 listed. The structure is known as a ‘taper suspension’ – using chains that are linked together and riveted at an angle – and was the first of over 50 built around the world.
Few now survive.
Is Bath trying to beat London in creating its own garden bridge?
