About 15 km from the English Aberystwyth, there is the Devil's Bridge or, as it is also called, the Devil's Bridge (from English Devils Bridge). Located in the village of the same name in Wales, Ceredigion County on the way to Strata Florida Abbey. In Welsh, Devils Bridge will be Pontarfynach, which means "bridge over the river Mainach". As the name suggests, the village's most valuable attraction is the bridge. From Welsh, Pontarfynach means the bridge over the Mynach river. Here the river cut through a narrow and very deep cleft.
I hope I understood and processed correctly, information from various sources.
By the way. Welsh (Cymraeg) is one of the Celtic languages spoken by about 659,000 people in Wales and several hundred in the Welsh colony in Patagonia, Argentina. In addition, Welsh speakers are found in England, Scotland, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
I think there will be another interesting topic about the Welsh language and a detailed analysis. Now let's get back to our bridges.
The beginning of the construction of the bridge was laid by the Templars at the end of the 12th century, and 600 years later another bridge was built on. At the beginning of the last century, the third was built here.
The interesting architecture of the bridge lies in its structure. O consists of 3 bridges from different eras. It can be said without exaggeration that each new one grew on the old one. An interesting architectural solution.
The original and smallest bridge was built in the 12th century. When its time came and it began to collapse, the construction of the next bridge was started. The construction of a new interesting bridge was carried out in the 18th century.
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In order to save on materials and simplify the work, the old bridge was not destroyed. It was used as a fundamental basis for the construction of a new structure. If you think about it, then in our life everything starts on the foundation of something old that has become unusable and it's time to change.
The third and last iron bridge was built in 1901. Again, the previous two bridges remained intact. They also served as a good support for the new.
And why is it called the devilish Devils Bridge? An interesting legend will tell about this.
It is said that the first bridge was built by the devil himself. In this way, he wanted to get a soul. One day, a local woman lost her cow. For a long time she was looking for her wet nurse. And when I found it, I was even more disappointed, since she was on the other side of the Mynach River. But then the devil himself appeared from the bushes. And he offered a deal. He promised to build a bridge, in exchange for the soul of the first person to cross it. The woman agreed.
When everything was ready, she threw a piece of bread across the bridge, which her dog chased after. So the devil got the soul of a dog. There is another interesting legend among Christians that dogs have no soul. One way or another, the deal was made, as a result of which the cow was whole and the evil one did not receive a soul.
Under the bridge, the stream falls down in a rather spectacular cascade. You can go down there (for a fee) via iron bridges and ladders. There are two separate staircases on both sides of the bridge. There is a lot to see on both sides.