Brockweir
Brockweir is a small but attractive village located
alongside the River Wye, where there used to be a boat
building industry. It is reported that vessels up to
90 tonnes could reach this point from the sea, where
their cargoes were transferred to shallow barges and
hauled up the river by teams of men. In front of the
Quay House there is a screw and shaft (a propelling
mechanism) which is reputed to have come from the Belle
Marie, which in 1914 became the last boat to sail to
Brockweir. . Built in Gloucester in 1860 it was Brockweir's
'market boat' and carried local produce to Bristol on
a weekly basis between 1898-1912.
Before the cast iron road bridge was built in 1904/6,
only one narrow road led into the village and access
was usually achieved by water, with a ferry-taking travellers
to and from the Welsh bank. Many of the buildings had
river connections, acting as warehouses and although
today only one public house remains, there were once
16 inns to satisfy the demands of locals, watermen and
shipbuilders! Other interesting buildings include the
16th century Manor House (which stands facing the bridge),
the 19th century Moravian Chapel (with its Gothic Windows,
Art Nouveau glass and a bellcote) and the Old Malt House
(which has a fine Tudor-arched stone doorway). During
World War 2, Brock weir and its bridge had a narrow
escape when a Wellington bomber, returning from a mission
to France, crashed just upstream of the bridge after
its crew had safely baled out.
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