Page updated 22 May 2009
There was a bridge across the River
Exe at Exwick, next to the railway crossing as early
as 1851, probably built by the Bullers. The Buller's owned land in
Exwick and had donated the land
at the end of Station Road for Exwick School (opened 1861) and St
Andrew's Church (1842).
In 1851, James Wentworth
Buller persuaded the Bristol and Exeter Railway to donate £150
towards building two bridges at Exwick – he also collected money
from the mill owners to raised about half the required amount. Buller
paid the rest and in 1851 two wooden bridges were built, one over the
leat and one over the Exe.
The new short cut to St David's
Station proved to be popular with more than a thousand pedestrians
passing along Station Road on
some days. However, the collected tolls averaged just £20 per year
with the cost of upkeep falling on Buller.
In 1866, the old
wooden bridge over the river was badly damaged by floods and by 1870 in
poor condition – it was rebuilt by Horseley Company Ltd, in
1871, at a cost of £1,200 in cast iron and stone. Station Road as
it is now known was adopted by the City Council in 1901, and the
collection of tolls was stopped.
The
Buller Bridge was swept away in a flood in
1974, during the works to build the Exeter Flood Prevention Scheme.
Some residents of Exwick were reported as believing that the old bridge
had been weakened because the works had weakened the river bank above
the bridge. See Exeter Floods in
1960.
The replacement bridge was designed and built by Devon County
Council Bridge Works Division at a cost of £100,000. A temporary
bailey bridge for pedestrians was installed at a cost of £5,000
until the new bridge was completed. The steel deck of the new bridge
was fabricated by Horseley Bridge and Thomas Piggott Ltd and erected by
Carter Horseley Engineers Ltd. It was designed to have a low road
surface level allowing a flat approach from either side; it is also
hinged to allow one end to be raised to line up with a new road bridge,
if it is ever built, over the railway replacing the level crossing.
The 1860s
Buller bridge after it
was swept away in 1974. Photo Bob Wathen. Click photo to enlarge
Station
Road river bridge.
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