Wadebridge

Wadebridge: The Bridge on Wool

Picture a medieval vicar, John Lovybond, gazing at the treacherous River Camel, fed up with lives lost at its ford. In the 1460s, he dreamed up a bridge for Wadebridge—legend says it was built on wool. Not bales sunk in mud (though locals love that tale), but the sweat and silver of Cornwall’s wool trade, spinning fleeces into funds for a 17-arch marvel that still stands. Cross it today, and you’ll feel the weight of centuries—each stone a nod to grit and cleverness. Wadebridge grew around this “Bridge on Wool,” a market town where history hums, from Cromwell’s troops clashing here in 1646 to the Camel Trail now tracing its old railway tracks.

Beyond the bridge, Wadebridge thrives quietly. Molesworth Street, pedestrianized and lined with indie shops like Relic & Rust, feels like a hug from Cornwall itself—grab a coffee at Delicia or a pasty from Malcolm Barnecutt’s. The Camel River invites kayaks or lazy walks, with kingfishers flashing blue along the trail. Just 20 minutes from our Padstow cottage, it’s a perfect day trip—less glitz than Newquay, more soul than a guidebook could capture. Come scribble your own story where wool wove a town together.

A recreation of the building of the Bridge of Wool