“Then you mean to build your third bridge with less weight proportionately on its haunches?”
“Exactly so.”
“Well, I wish you good luck, friend Edwards, for we need a bridge sorely over the brawling Taff.”
“You shall have it, neighbour. I shall succeed this time. I have gripped the right principle at last.”
He had indeed, for the bridge he then built lasts to this day. It was the famous Pontypridd bridge over the Taff on the Llantrissant and Merthyr road, and was called the Pont y du Prydd, or the bridge by the earthen house, for a mud hut stood near.
PONTYPRIDD BRIDGE.
From Encyclopædia Britannica.
About the year 1745 it was determined to build a bridge over the rushing Taff, and William Edwards, a self-taught mason of the country, undertook the task. The first bridge he built was of three arches, which, in less than three years, was dashed away by a great flood. The water rose so high as to surge over the parapet.