Viators Bridge (aka Viator’s Bridge, Wheelbarrow Bridge) crosses the River Dove at Milldale, a beautiful village in the heart of Dovedale. Like many of the stone bridges in the Peak District it has a long history, originally a packhorse bridge like so many crossing the brooks and rivers in The Peaks.
Izaak Walton, famous for his 1653 book “The Compleat Angler” was probably not in the best of moods when he encountered it during his travels. This may have been because he is reputed to have approached it from the east via a steep path called “Hanson’s Toot”, or the fact that in the 17th century the bridge didn’t have a parapet. Whatever the reason he was scathing about the bridge, describing it as a bridge only wide enough for a mouse or wheelbarrow to cross. Whatever the bridge was called before that I have yet to discover, but since then it’s been called “Wheelbarrow Bridge” or “Viators Bridge” – A viator as you might have guessed being a traveller.
Whatever you call it the wide pair of arches that bridge the Dove using the island in the centre of the river serve the thousands of walkers who enter Dove Dale from Milldale village every year perfectly well. Whether they have a wheelbarrow or not.
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