Lady Bute’s Bridge and Well

Lady Bute Bridge

The bridge gave members of the Bute family access to their gardens to the west of the feeder, using a carriageway which led from the Castle’s North Gate to an exit onto Castle Street.

The old postcard (courtesy of Vena and Wynne Edwards) shows the feeder leading towards the bridge.

Much of the original bridge was obscured by alterations to the dock feeder in the 20th century. The bridge was partly rebuilt in the 1980s to ensure it would remain intact after military tanks crossed it – not as part of any invasion – but when taking part in the military tattoos (military entertainment/display shows) which were held in the castle in that decade.

Lady Bute Well

Originally constructed at the same time as the dock feeder the well was constructed in this location to preserve a spring of water at the request of the Marchioness of Bute.

The well structure is believed to have been constructed in advance of the layout of the pleasure grounds, as early as 1834-5 as part of the dock feeder construction, although it does not appear in the 1851 Ordnance Survey plan. The original specification and bill of quantities for the dock feeder, held at the National Library for Wales in Aberystwyth, records the construction of a well in this location ‘to preserve a
spring of water, the desire of the Marchioness of Bute’.

The structure was subsequently adapted to house the control mechanism for the drawing of water from the feeder to top up both the Mill Leat and the moat around the motte, this became obsolete following changes made to the alignment of the feeder in the last century.

The structure was cleaned out and brought back into use to control water feed into the Mill Leat (2013).