A talk by Paul Barnett on 13 January 2026. Report by Stan Morrissey.
Our speaker has been a lifelong seafarer and brought a distinctively maritime viewpoint to his fascinating anecdotal account of the way a vital communication link was demolished in one night.
The Severn and Wye Rail Bridge (to give its full name) crossed the river between Lydney and Sharpness. It was built to take the output of the Forest of Dean coal mines across the river for loading on to ships at Sharpness.
Building the bridge was not an easy task. It had to cope with a considerable variation in tide height. The bridge approach had to be elevated to give a 50ft clearance for tall ships on the Gloucester and Sharpness canal as well as the river, and 70ft at Lydney. A double caisson design was chosen (a caisson is a watertight box structure used to build the foundations) that was based on the contemporary Tay Bridge. It carried a single rail track, trains being pushed or pulled to avoid being turned around. Building started in 1874 and finished in 1879. Initially it carried coal only, passengers not being catered for until around 1906.
Photos of the bridge being built are understandably scarce but there are some glass plates that had been found in a skip! Only two sets exist. Interestingly another early record, a watercolour commissioned by the builder, was similarly found in a skip in Gloucester Docks. Record preservation was obviously not a priority.
On 17 October 1879 the bridge was opened. Only two months later, on 28 December, the Tay Bridge collapsed in a storm. An inauspicious and worrying start! Immediate precautions were taken on the Severn bridge – a weight restriction on trains, limited locomotive size and a 15mph speed limit. The hollow caissons were filled with concrete and extra struts added.
The bridge had a history of accidents. In February 1939 a ship hit pier 17, the same pier hit in its final destruction. Maybe a weakness was introduced then? In other years there were a series of collisions by ships crossing the Severn or proceeding to Gloucester docks. This being the largest structure on the Severn, well charted and (usually) visible, it is rather strange that so many ships hit it. Maybe one answer is that the bridge was the only insured structure on the river and some ships were on their way to be scrapped at Gloucester – an insurance payout could be far more than the scrap value!
On the foggy night of 20 October 1960, two barges, the Arkendale H (a 191-ton black oiler) and the Wastdale H (carrying 252 tons of petrol), were heading towards Sharpness. They collided in the fog, drifted past Sharpness and hit the bridge. Both ships caught fire and several spans of the bridge collapsed. Five men died.
There are several persistent myths regarding the disaster:
The rails were removed in 1964 (another myth is that Beeching closed the line – but the Beeching report came out in 1965). By 1969 the bridge had been completely demolished.
What were the consequences of its loss? Clearly, the Forest of Dean’s coal trade was badly affected, and railway passengers faced a lengthy diversion via Gloucester. Less obviously, the forest’s gas supply was lost. British Gas issued some 190+ propane cookers to restore cooking facilities to the forest population.
More on the story, plus personal reminiscences and many pictures, is available on the website of the Friends of Purton, well worth a visit: 