I was talking to a resident of the nearby houses. He told me quite a lot about the viaduct. In this picture you can see that the second upright stanchion from the left in this picture is wider than the rest. Apparently when the old timber bridge was being replaced they build the stanchions around the older timbers. To put in the foundations they excavated below and around them. When this stanchion was being built four horses, a loaded cart and the driver plummeted into the foundations. They pulled the unfortunate cart driver out alive. The horses were not so lucky so the story goes. Being heavily laden and down a deep hole they left the horses, cart and contents in the hole and built the stanchion around them. Hence that one is bigger than the rest.
The story may be apocryphal. However, it sure kept me interested!
Photographer, writer, teacher :: Live honestly. Progress through knowledge. Achieve by teaching. Communicate in writing. Speak in pictures. Every day, improve the world a little...
construction stories can be so sad but so interesting at the same time. i look at things and am blown away by the fact that they were built by HAND, so long ago, without computer aided technology that today we can not function if the lights go out. . .
![This Viaduct Was Not Built By Isombard Kingdom Brunel [02] - Horses died! by netkonnexion](https://media.365project.org/1/1858897_cdfjlmov69_l.jpg "This Viaduct Was Not Built By Isombard Kingdom Brunel [02] - Horses died! by netkonnexion")
