Kerry Lodge Bridge over Jinglers Creek (also known as Strathroy Bridge) Launceston, Tasmania, Australia A fine stone

bridge built by convict labour in 1835 as the earliest major bridge on the Midlands Highway. The bridge is still in operation today although the road is no longer part of the Midlands Highway and is known as Hobart Road. A sign at the bridge says Kerry Lodge 1834. It does not mention the bridge itself. Kerry Lodge Bridge adopts the name from the nearby property where Theodore and Hannah Bartley, the parents of sixteen children, lived. In 1830 Bartley sold a farm of 200 acres at Kerry Lodge to Lieutenant William Kenworthy, the Inspector of Public Works at Launceston, who later became concerned in the building of the bridge. At a later date Kerry Lodge house was demolished and the property now forms part of Strathroy. Kerry Lodge Bridge, also known as Strathroy Bridge and Jinglers Creek Bridge, is located on the former Midland Highway, some 9.6 kilometres south of Launceston. The bridge was authorised by Lieutenant Governor Arthur, with work commencing in 1834. Lieutenant William Kenworthy was in charge on site, with John Lee Archer in overall charge in Hobart. Archer was also responsible for designing the magnificent Ross Bridge. This bridge and causeway of bluestone masonry stands some six miles south of Launceston, its high single barrel vault across a deep gully. The massive facades are decorated with a colonnade of narrow pilasters, string courses and relief panels in the parapet walls. The copings are of random rough stones set on edge, unusual in Tasmania and particularly curious because at the time the bridge was built it was intended to have moulded freestone copings. Construction 1834-35 was supervised by Kenworthy. Coincidentally, Kenworthy had purchased Kerry Lodge Farm four years previously. After an initial delay in consideration of tenders for the supply of lime, work was under way in February 1834 and by October correspondence was entered into about the provision of freestone for the coping of the parapet walls, a plan which did not materialise. The Blue Book for 1835 states: This convict built bridge has been completed and a Stone Coping has been put on the parapet walls. The expense of convict labour performed amounts to 19 pounds no shillings and 4 pence and the further sum of one hundred and nine pounds seventeen shillings has been paid for stone lime and cartage." Strathroy Bridge was added to the Tasmanian Heritage Register in April 2012 and in May 2012 the National Trust applied to the Launceston Council for funding assistance to install lighting at the bridge. Jingler's Valley, through which the railway passes after leaving St. Leonards was named after an outlaw who once made it his headquarters, hence Jingler's Creek. (Ref. Flotsam and Jetsam, Button P168). Kerry Lodge Bridge is a bridge located 9.6Kilometres south of Launceston Tasmania, Australia. The estimate terrain elevation above sea level is 118 metres. Variant forms of spelling for Kerry Lodge Bridge or in other languages: Kerry Lodge Bridge (en), Kerry Lodge Bridge. Latitude: -4130'0" Longitude: 14710'11.99

Plan of Kerry Lodge Bridge (Strathroy Bridge) 1834

[Photo of Kerry Bridge by danfromtas].

Copy of part minutes THC 21/03/2012 re Permanent Entry of Strathroy Bridge to the Tasmanian Heritage register