Vital bridge finds itself in troubled waters

Panic swept in to Swaledale last week as villagers in the tiny, peaceful and usually alluring community of Grinton heard they might lose their historic bridge over what can often be troubled water.

The River Swale is reputedly the fastest flowing river in the UK and regularly floods during the winter. This time the river was so high there were fears the bridge would collapse.

Grinton Bridge is part of the B6270. It’s the closest that Swaledale gets to a trunk road and it plays a vital role in linking the communities of the upper dale, particularly the villages of Fremington, Reeth, Gunnerside and Muker and the many farming hamlets including Crackpot.

The bridge was built in the 16th century and was widened in the 18th century. Last week’s drama brought home to locals just how important it is to their community. They have not forgotten that six Cumbrian bridges, not dissimilar to Grinton, collapsed due to the pressure of river water in 2009.

There are country tracks over the likes of Askrigg Common and Abbotside Common. But these are not generally suitable for regular heavy goods traffic making deliveries. And if the B6270 did become a no through road for a time the fuel costs for those living in the more isolated communities would rocket.

Stuart Price runs the Dales Bike Centre here with his wife Brenda and their still relatively new premises are some 150 yards north of the bridge. They opened their centre three years ago and have a 14-bed bunk barn style accommodation, a café and bike shop. They organise riding skills courses and host biking holidays.

Last week everything stopped as their premises, inside and out, were under a foot and a half of water. When I visited they were still drying it all out. “Because of where we are we have been prepared for floods,” says Stuart. “But this is the first time we’ve actually experienced one. Normally when the Swale bursts its banks the water creeps along very slowly but doesn’t quite make it to us.

“On Thursday last week, it came slowly at first, but then Arkle Beck, which flows into the Swale, blew its banks. Within 20 minutes we were completely flooded. It’s a pain in the backside dealing with the mess and handling the destruction.”

The bridge was closed for inspections to be carried out. That plus the detritus left by flooding has hit Stuart’s trade this month.

“We’re coming up to what would have been the two busiest weekends of the year for the bike shop,” he adds.

“We normally sell a lot of riding skills vouchers at this time, so we’re trying to get the shop back open as soon as we can. Normally it’s the bike shop that carries our business through December.

“Our trade has been affected massively. We’re reliant on cyclists and mountain bikers coming here and we’ve now lost a lot of that. The bridge being open and our premises being dry are both essential.”

Stuart takes a stoical view of what December throws at them. “When you live and work here, you know that you will face some tricky times weather-wise.

“Last year we had snow for five weeks, which meant no-one could ride. This year we’ve got flooding. There’s always something. You’ve just got to be ready for it.”

On the south side of Grinton Bridge is an historic former coaching house, the Bridge Inn, where landlord Andrew Atkin was celebrating his ninth year at the helm this week.

The thought of losing the bridge isn’t something he wants to think about too much. “It would be horrendous and a massive inconvenience for everyone around here.

“The detour to get around would put on quite a number of miles. Farmers and small businesses would suffer. In terms of tourism the bridge is vital.

“Personally I never thought it would collapse, but it’s a bit worrying when you’ve got professionals looking at it. I know there are some who think that there was an over-reaction but they couldn’t let people go across just in case. It’s easy in hindsight to say there’s nothing wrong with it.

“It was an extreme situation last week because there were concerns for the bridge at Marske too. The level was higher than I’ve seen before and you couldn’t see the arches of the bridge.

“I had two parties booked in. One was from Fremington and Reeth, half a mile over to the north side of the bridge. They couldn’t get here at all. It was an odd night. We had people who couldn’t get to where they really wanted to go coming in and a party from 20 miles away getting here. But my brother who had been working here couldn’t get back home.”

Nearby, Jim Lawson was busy repairing a greenhouse that had ended up in the middle of the river. “It’s not what they’re designed for you know,” he said. I’m just the repair man and I’ve been coming here for 20 years.

“But last week was the highest I’ve ever seen the river.”

River Swale: Floods and facts

The Environment Agency says the highest river level recorded at Grinton Bridge was 2.51 metres.

The Swale’s level here reached 2.46 metres on September 6, 2008.

What happens when the Swale reaches danger levels is also of great importance to the populations and flood defences of distant York and Selby since the river is the northernmost tribuary of the Ouse.