The Iron Bridge and North Gate

The early 19th century saw the Improvement Commissioners directing many changes in Exeter. It had been formed around about 1810 to ensure a more rational approach to town planning in Exeter. In 1834, they commissioned the construction of a new bridge over the steep sided Longbrook Valley, immediately in front of the North Gate. The ancient gate had been removed in 1769 to open up this entrance to the city.

The original approach road to the city, Lower North Street was narrow and difficult for horse drawn vehicles - in fact the valley was known as The Pit due to its steep sides and depth. Up to twenty pairs of horse drawn carts carrying lime from the lime kilns in St Leonards area would pass up South Street, and down the 10 ft wide North Street and Lower North Street, creating blockages, on their way to St David's Down and beyond. The bridge was built parallel to, and on the left side of Lower North Street, blocking the two lower floors of the Crown and Sceptre, now the present City Gate, and houses on that side of the approach. Their second floors became the new entrances, and the blocked in floors, defacto cellars.

The Barnstaple Inn on the opposite side of the road from the Crown and Sceptre was an important coaching inn before the Iron Bridge was constructed. The inn was taken over by Harding and Richards with the rear becoming the St Anne's Well Brewery. A small footbridge from the Iron Bridge, across Lower North Street to the first floor of the Barnstaple Inn was installed, giving access to the bridge from the brewery. The fixings can still be seen in the Iron Bridge.

A suspension bridge

The Improvement Commission had originally considered a design for a cheaper suspension bridge, as cast-iron bridges were considered 'old fashioned' in the 1830's. Brunel had been working on his Clifton Suspension Bridge for some time, and it is probable that the city fathers did not want to be outdone by their Avon neighbours. A model had even been prepared for their consideration but in the event, they went for the cast-iron design.

The bridge was cast in 1834-5 at the ironworks of Russell and Brown of Blaina, Monmouthshire, at a cost of £3,500. The cast-iron parts were brought on the Atlas by sea from Newport and up the Exeter Ship Canal and unloaded at the canal basin. At 800 ft the bridge has six, 40ft arches and a 24 ft roadway that was now wide and flat across the valley from St David's Down to the city.

The new bridge made it much easier for the coach and horses, and the Crown and Sceptre coaching inn, the last to be built, opened on the bridge. The doors of the inn were wide enough to take the six-horse coaches from Barnstaple.

The Northgate

At the city end of the Iron Bridge is a stone on which is inscribed:

Attached to the stone is a tall pole with a weather vane in the shape of a dragon with a long, curly tail. It was re-erected by the Civic Society in 1976 from elsewhere in Exeter. It supposedly has dents in it, where bullets from the English Civil War hit home - Exeter was a Royalist stronghold for much of this period and it sustained a long siege from the Parliamentarians.

Sources - Lost Exeter by Todd Gray, St Davids by Joyce Greenaway and various guide books and plaques.