The Rustic Bridge in The Higher Glen was the subject of several Edwardian picture postcards.
Photograph taken in 1999. Note Cherry Laurel.
The team from Groundwork South West cut back invasive cherry laurel in 2010 and the district council cut down a tree growing on the bridge in the same year.
A recent photograph of the Rustic Bridge and waterfalls, the nearest of which was for many years hidden by cherry laurel.
The bridge is quite easily seen from the public footpath running parallel with The Higher Glen and also in the distance from Parsonage Lane close to the Waterleat Avenue bridge.
Rustic bridges had for many years been a feature of similar gardens both in this country and abroad. The Higher Glen contained several other bridges also recorded in picture postcards but these were of functional design and being constructed of timber and not maintained for many years, have disappeared. This bridge, although on a former path, was also intended to be an ornamenal feature across a short pound of the stream between two waterfalls both of which also still survive.
Copyright Honiton Glen Conservation Group 2013-2023.