Slater's Bridge

The bridge dates back to the 17th century, and became a listed building in 1967. Built of slate, it consists of a {{convert|15|ft|adj=on}} segmental arch and a flatter span built of slabs, and incorporates a natural boulder in midstream. The bridge is thought to have been created by miners working in the nearby Tilberthwaite Fells.{{cite book |first=Brian |last=Conduit |title=Lake District Walks |date=1991 |page=62 |publisher=Jarrold/OS |isbn=0711704635}}

Already in the 19th century, Alexander Craig Gibson called it "an exquisite and unique specimen of a style of bridge all but extinct";{{cite book |first=Alexander Craig |last=Gibson |title=The Old Man; Or Ravings and Ramblings Round Conistone |date=1849 |page=30 |publisher=Whittaker & Co |location=London |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56462/56462-h/56462-h.htm#Page_30 |via=Project Gutenberg |accessdate=5 September 2020}} a century later, Alfred Wainwright called it "the most picturesque footbridge in Lakeland, a slender arch constructed of slate from the quarries and built to give the quarrymen a shorter access from their homes".{{cite book |first=Alfred |last=Wainwright |title=Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland |date=1992 |page=185 |publisher=Michael Joseph |location=London |isbn=0718134818}}

The bridge was acclaimed in a 20th-century poem as "...this/exercise in hanging circularity, toppling stress./The rough slate wedges carry their own likeness/on the belly of each, with the grass springing sidewise/at the joins. The bare arch links two valley sides/as though by a handclasp across the sky's reflection".Quoted in N Nichlson, The Lake District (Penguin 978) p. 58-9

• Ashness Bridge
• Birks Bridge
• Listed buildings in Coniston, Cumbria

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• [https://www.jamesbellphotography.co.uk/blog/shoots/slaters-bridge-shoot Slaters Bridge Shoot]

Category:Bridges in Cumbria

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