Before the bridge.

The pictures above, which I took last week, are the jetty of the old Aust Ferry with the original Severn bridge in the background and the toll gate where the foot passengers paid their toll. This ferry closed in 1966 when the Severn bridge opened and has just been left to rot and decay.

The ferry was the only way to get across to Wales unless you drove 50 miles around Gloucester, a terrific distance in the 1940's and 50's, to access Wales that way. This small ferry operated between Aust on the English side of the river Severn and Chepstow on the Welsh side where it was generally known as the Beachley ferry after the small village where it docked.

There were three ferries working and the largest carried just 17 vehicles! The distance is just over a mile and the tides run swiftly there. During the summer months cars had to queue for hours to get on the ferry and there was a school of thought it was quicker to 'drive around' than to queue up. By the 1960's the Beachly-Aust ferry was swamped.

The Severn bridge had been a decade in the planning stage. The idea of a bridge across the Severn had been a dream for many years, but it took modern technology to solve the foundation problems. When it was finally opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 1966 it's span was the seventh largest in the world.

While were were photographing all this history my friend recalled queueing for the ferry on a school trip in the 1950's and dropping a half crown ( a huge amount of money then) down through the planks. We had a quick look to see it it had surfaced over the years but alas ....... no luck!