Conserving Wightwick Manor's Mathematical Bridge, Wolverhampton

As far as we can gather, there are just three of these amazing bridges in Britain, in Cambridge, Oxford(ish) and Wolverhampton, with the latter being the one retaining most of its original timber.

The bridge at Wightwick Manor is a c1900 replica of the first Mathematical Bridge built in 1749 at Queen's College, Cambridge. It is constructed from straight lengths of timber, but with nails replacing wooden pegs of the original and iron tie bars underneath.The property of Wightwick Manor is under the guardianship of The National Trust, whilst the Internet is the place to go to read the story, book tickets and so on.

Benring was given the task of repairing quite a few rot-spots in the Grade II listed Wolverhampton bridge's timbers by judicious use of Bencon epoxy resin timber repair products - camouflaging the repairs was necessary in order to present as perfect a structure as possible to the onlooker.

We attended to the joints between bridge end and concrete foundation slab too, interesting work but old hat; of more than interest to sightseers both on foot and in cars, was the coning-off of the busy roadway, half at a time, and carrying out tricky work whilst suspended on ropes - luckily the majority of our staff are qualified IRATA Rope Access certified idiots! Obviously written by a bemused author!

Visit the Manor and see whether you can spot the conservation work done on this historical Grade II listed Mathamatical Bridge by Benring, after looking around this splendid house, so well nurtured by the National Trust: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wightwick-manor-and-gardens