Postbridge Clapper Bridge, Dartmoor, Devon
Painted in DAP using Felt tip & oil brushes, then combined both images using layers in photoshop cs At one time grandly known by some as the ‘cyclopean bridge’, Postbridge Clapper in one form or another has stood here for centuries. The term ‘clapper bridge’ is a term used on Dartmoor for a bridge which has one or more flat slabs of stones which rest on stone piers and thus spans a river or stream. The Dartmoor term for the slabs are ‘posts’ which is how Postbridge acquired its name. It is possible that the bridge dates back as early as the 1300’s as by this time many of the nearby moorland farms had been established. The earliest documented record of the bridge is from a newtake lease of 1655 where it states: “scituate lyinge and beinge between postbridge and a nutake of on Richard Leeres…” The bridge then appears on John Ogilby’s Exeter to Truro road map of 1675 where it is marked as “a Stone bridge, 3 Arches Called Post bridg.” Above info from Legendary Dartmoor Clapper bridges are unique to the dartmoor area. There are 30 bridges in total on Dartmoor, being constructed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by medieval tin workers and farmers as crossings over the many small rivers that traverse the moorland.
Size: 4000px × 2670px
Location: Dartmoor, Devon
Photo credit: © David Carton Digital / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: altered, bridge, clapper, created, dap, dart, dartmoor, devon, digital, digitally, east, landscape, nature, painterly, painting, photograph, postbridge, river, trees, uk
