Bain's Passes

Lady Grey Bridge (Paarl)

ThomasAttributedBridge

Described as Thomas Bain's first independent work.

This is a bridge, not a pass. Whether the present bridge is the 1858 structure, and exactly where it crosses the Berg River, was not established. The pin marks Paarl only.
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BridgeType
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See it on the mapLog your drive

Before you go

Road conditions change with weather, floods, fires and roadworks. Check the latest conditions with the road authority or local tourism office before you leave, and carry offline maps.

About this bridge

The Lady Grey Bridge carried the road over the Berg River at Paarl. It opened in 1858 as a timber bridge, the second bridge over the Berg River after the Lady Loch Bridge near Wellington, which dates from 1853. The Heritage Portal calls it Thomas Bain's first independent work; the article on its opening does not name an engineer.

Opened early 1855 (Storrar 1984), Thomas Bain's first independent job, total length 338.2 m: the main stream spanned by a substantial truss bridge on stone buttresses with a massive centre pier. Lawrence Green wrote that South Africa had never seen such a bridge, 3,000 people could stand on it at once, and after the ceremony there was a "select tiffin" for important guests and a grand picnic open to anyone "neatly and respectably attired". Bain also built a reservoir at the foot of Leeuhoek Pass while working on it. It was replaced by a concrete bridge in 1971. West Coast Way says the bridge was at first a timber construction and was opened in 1858.

History

Built by
Described as Thomas Bain's first independent work.
Built
Opened 1858 as a timber bridge (West Coast Way). Later replacement not documented.
Location
Over the Berg River, Paarl, Western Cape
Notes
Opened in 1858 as a timber bridge, the second Berg River bridge after the Lady Loch Bridge near Wellington (1853). The West Coast Way article does not name its engineer; the link to Thomas Bain comes from the Heritage Portal, which calls it his first independent work. The Cape Colony list of principal bridges (1909–10) also lists a Lady Grey Bridge on the Berg River at Paarl, giving no date or engineer. The Heritage Portal's Thomas Bain article repeats that it was his first independent project, with no date or cost. Dates differ: Burman gives 12 September 1853 and links it to Bain's Kloof, while Botha (1918) gives 1853. Ross suggests Burman confused it with Andrew Bain's Berg River Bridge near Wellington, opened 13 September 1853, the day before Bain's Kloof. Ross's schedule says 1855 and, for the 1971 replacement, "Thomas Bain's 1853 bridge". Opening dates found: early 1855 (Storrar, via Ross), 1853 (Botha, Burman) and 1858 (West Coast Way).

Find it

Pin
-33.73420, 18.96210
Approximate position
Pin is Paarl town. No source gives the bridge's coordinates.
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Sources

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