Bridge over S end of Skewen Cutting, Tennant Canal

Heritage listing

Reason for designation: Listed for group value with other listed items associated with the Tennant Canal. Scheduled Ancient Monument Gm 394. History: The Tennant Canal was built 1820-4, engineered by William Kirkhouse. The head of the canal was at Aberdulais, where it joins the Neath Canal, and ended at Port Tennant on the E side of the River Tawe in Swansea. Traffic was carried on the canal until the 1930s. Skewen Cutting is a stone-lined bed and was laid in 1821 to counter problems with quicksand. The bridge is probably contemporary with the cutting and is shown on the 1844 Tithe map. Exterior: A single-carriageway, single-span bridge of rubble stone with tooled voussoirs and jambs to a segmental arch. The abutments with integral parapet curve outwards. Some C19 coping stones survive, composed of square blocks or half-round blocks of copper slag. The flat deck, probably designed for a tramroad, is grass covered. Location: Spanning the Tennant Canal immediately N of the A465 and reached by a minor road beneath the A465 from Neath Abbey Industrial Estate.

From Cadw under OGL v3.