SPUDDERS BRIDGE WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Spudders Bridge lies on the main route west from Llanelli to Kidwelly near to the village of Trimsaran. This road, indicated in John Ogilby’s atlas Britannia dated 1675, is part of a much longer route from London to St David’s. Ogilby’s atlas was the first of its kind and contains strip maps of the principal routes in England and Wales at that time.
The origins of this major route must lie in the importance of St David’s (and later the Cathedral) as a place of pilgrimage from the times of the Celtic church, through the Norman period and into the Middle Ages. It was said that two pilgrimages to St David’s were the equivalent of one to Rome. As a route to Ireland it is unlikely as Ogilby’s map ends at St David’s with no mention of a harbour, unlike his depiction of Aberystwyth. There would have been better shipping places for Ireland along the coast of South Wales.
The route shown in Ogilby runs from London to Gloucester and “thence via the Forest of Dean to Monmouth, to Newport, Cardiff and Cowbridge, Pyle, Aberavon to Burton Ferry (sic). The route crossed the burrows to Swansey, where there was a ferry across the Tawe, and continued westwards to Loughor (ferry), Llanelthly (sic), towards Kidwelly via the bridge marked in Ogilby as Pont Spuddore. After Kidwelly came Llansteffan (a ferry at Ferryside) and on to Laucharne (sic), (the map indicates ‘The Passage’- later to become famous through Dylan Thomas’ Boat House, although the ferryman lived next door!). The route continued via the present-day Tavernspite to Narberth and Haverfordwest, and then north to St David’s”.
Ogilby shows bridges where it was possible to span the river, but where the rivers became tidal and medieval bridge building was not capable of large spans then a ferry would be the means of crossing. It can be assumed that this ancient route even in Ogilby’s day was best suited to travellers on foot or horseback.
So, if the earliest route was attributed to pilgrimage, a second and perhaps more important reason for this route came with the Norman Conquest of these parts. Several forts were constructed around the coast to consolidate and administer their territorial gains, with excellent examples here in Carmarthenshire at Kidwelly, Llansteffan and Laugharne. The location of these forts provided protection of the river crossings and also anchorages whereby they could be supplied by sea. Nevertheless, overland routes were also required and so the pre-Norman trackways would have been adopted by the new regime.
So, what of Pont Spuddore as noted in Ogilby? Today it is Spudders Bridge or sometimes written as Spudder’s Bridge. This must be a mistake because nowhere is there mention of a Mr Spudder to have a bridge named after him. We can also dismiss any connection with potatoes. The present day Welsh word for spuds is ‘spwd’ and it would be easy to assume that there is a link here with ‘Spwdwr’. The area around Trimsaran is mostly pasture and woodland: there is no great history of growing crops, certainly not potatoes in great quantities. Since road transport was very limited in the medieval period due to the rough roads at that time, crops and production would have been on a limited, local scale. ‘Spuddore’ is not known to be a family name in the locality, nor is there a farm of that name nearby. The name must come from elsewhere.
From Ogilby we know that Pont Spuddore existed in 1675, isolated enough and important enough to be mentioned in its own right. We know from local history that it was repaired in 1571 under the terms of the will of David Vaughan of Trimsaran and later by his nephew Griffith ap William Vaughan in 1587. Could it be that the executors of these wills instructed and supervised these works, thereby giving the name “Executor’s Bridge” derived from the Welsh ‘ysgutor’? Possibly that would be anglicised to ‘skudder’, with another shift to ‘spudder’? But Ogilby’s use of the name suggests an earlier origin. Furthermore, the two wills refer to ‘the repair’ of the bridge, which proves that it had existed for some time before 1571.
Could it be derived from ‘sgwd’, the Welsh word for rapids or shoots or waterfall, as in Sgwd yr Eira and Sgwd Gwladys in the headwaters of the River Neath? It would have to be assumed that the Gwendraeth Fawr gave rise to these conditions, possibly at times of flooding, with the river ‘shooting’ through. But the river doesn’t ‘shoot through’ to any great extent. The Gwendraeth Fawr floods from time to time because of the build up of the sand dunes and sand banks forming a barrier at the mouth of both the Gwendraeth Fach and Gwendraeth Fawr. The problem on the Gwendraeth Fawr at high tide has been partially solved in modern times by the construction of the causeway and the tidal barrage at Commissioner’s Bridge near Kidwelly. The tidal limit otherwise would be much nearer to Spudders Bridge, which is perhaps why the ancient trackway took this route. Local historian John Nicholson refers to the diary of a local schoolmaster living near Kidwelly who noted in 1741 that he was unable to reach Spudders Bridge due to the high tide.
The construction of Kidwelly Castle, Llansteffan and Laugharne and St David’s Cathedral, and the Neath Abbey, shows a high degree of craftsmanship and design. Pointed arches are reminiscent of medieval architecture for monasteries – Monks Bridge in Cumbria being an example, and the window openings at Neath Abbey, all of them 12th or 13th century. The listing from CADW quotes a possible construction date of the latter part of the sixteenth century. My view is that it was earlier than this.
Spudders Bridge is a substantial structure with four arches to serve the main river channel, and an elevated approach on the western side, forming a causeway crossing the flood plain, which also contains relief culverts. With flooding across a wide area a simple bridge would not have been the answer, and with the shallow depth of flood water, a ferry was not the answer either. There would have been in medieval times only two organisations with the resources of money and expertise to build such a bridge – the church and the state. I think we can rule out the church on the basis that they would not have had a strong enough motive to build Spudders Bridge. So that leaves the state, represented in the Norman period by the occupiers at Kidwelly, which was the administrative centre for the lordship. In my view, Spudders Bridge was built at or just after the major works at Kidwelly to ensure the unimpeded movement of soldiers – reinforcements perhaps – along this ancient route linking the castles, or simply for the convenience of travellers and trades-people associated with the castle. That would put Spudders Bridge into the era of Pain de Chaworth circa 1270s or the next phase of building at Kidwelly when it passed into Lancastrian hands, 13th and early 14th century.
Subsequent events
Parishes took on the responsibility for road upkeep after the first Highways Act, the Act of 1555. This gave the parish powers to appoint a Surveyor who would requisition two able bodied men from each landowner or the owner of a draught team (horses) – every householder would send one person in the parish to work for four days and supply carts and tools to repair all the roads in the parish. An amendment in 1562 extended the requirement to six days. Furthermore, the supervisors could be fined if not pursuing their duties. It is possible that Spudders Bridge was built in response to that legislation, but the architecture suggests earlier.
The parish system of repair by the local inhabitants is right and proper if trade and business are local and confined to the parish area, and the wear and tear is caused by local traffic, but it is clear that such an imposition of compulsory work was unfair on the residents of parishes if the road carried a great deal of through traffic. The road surface was not bound together by tarmacadam as it is today and narrow cart wheels and horses’ hooves would soon churn up the surface. As trade grew in the 17th and 18th centuries the idea of turnpikes evolved whereby the users would be charged for their passage along a section of road. The Turnpike Acts from 1663 enabled trusts to be set up so that the tolls levied could be used to keep the roads in good repair. However, they were soon seen as a means of earning money if the receipts were not wholly used for repairs, and, as the trustees for the turnpikes were wealthy local landowners or businessmen, resentment was bound to ensue. This road via Spudders Bridge became a toll road, and the toll house at Spudders Bridge was one of the ones destroyed by Rebecca Rioters in 1843. It seems that one of the ringleaders was transported to Tasmania. Likewise, the present A484 via Pembrey became a toll road after the construction of Commissioners Bridge at Kidwelly, which included, at the time of the Enclosures of the marsh in 1842, building the road on an embankment eastwards towards Pembrey. The road was completed to Pembrey by 1850. Spudders Bridge is 8 feet in width between parapets, barely wide enough for a bus to cross, and this situation continued until 1972 when Carmarthenshire County Council built the bypass alongside.
But what of the name Spudders Bridge – in Welsh, Pont Spwdwr? One Trimsaran local gave a much more realistic origin for the name Spudders Bridge. Apparently children in Trimsaran were warned against venturing across the bridge at dusk, as it was haunted by a spirit. The story comes from a folk tale based upon a tragic incident that happened here – star-crossed lovers meeting at the bridge, the tryst forbidden by the girl’s family. The boy is attacked and falls into the water and she tries to save him but they both drown. The spirit dressed in white returns at dusk to mourn her lost love – Pont yr Ysbryd Dwr – the bridge of the spirit in the water. Ogilby’s surveyors would have enquired about the name of the bridge from local people, and wrote down what they heard – and Pont yr Ysbryd Dwr becomes Pont Spuddore.
The foregoing is a personal assessment of the material available on Spudders Bridge, a mixture of fact and fable. What is incontrovertible is that this is one of the oldest bridges in Wales and perhaps deserves, in my view, greater national recognition and attention.
Roger S. Williams November 2024