Two bridges

River Eamont Part 22

Well obviously only one bridge here, but I was standing on the old Brougham Castle Bridge to take the photo of the modern A66 bridge.
 
Brougham Castle Bridge
Here it is, with the modern bridge behind. Unfortunately it is only possible to take this photo from the castle grounds and not even for Blip was I going to pay to go in . . . again! So this is one I took last week. There has been a crossing of the Eamont at this spot for a long, long time, although it was probably just a ford for many centuries. Three Roman roads joined up here, so it is obvious why the fort that preceded the castle was built here - to control the crossing. The current bridge was built in 1811 to take the Appleby/Penrith Turnpike over the Eamont, but it was substantially rebuilt in 1890 after flooding. It has three arches and a fourth for the mill race.
  
The A66 Bridge  
So, my blip shows the modern bridge taking the A66 over the Eamont. Not a very pretty bridge, but extremely well used and it is at this point that people travelling between Penrith and Appleby get a good view of the Castle. The A66 made the old road almost redundant, so the old bridge is hardly used at all - except for photographers taking pictures of the castle! You can see how wide the Eamont has become at this stage, now it has the waters of the Lowther flowing into it. And you might just see a heron on the island.

For anyone interested, I have just found a copy of the Turner painting of Brougham Castle, interesting because it shows the mill - replaced now by the huge modern dwelling.