Cilley Covered Bridge, Tunbridge Vermont
- Categories:
- Vermont
- Covered Bridges
- Multiple Kingpost Truss
The Cilley Covered Bridge is one of five covered wood bridges remaining in the town of Tunbridge. The five bridges, together with another in the adjoining town of Chelsea, cross the First Branch of the White River within a distance of about seven miles, comprising one of the most concentrated groups of covered bridges in Vermont. These bridges have not been altered seriously, and their historic environment of an extraordinarily scenic agricultural valley remains essentially undisturbed.
The covered bridges of Vermont are among its most cherished and symbolic historic resources. About one hundred of the bridges still stand in the state, the highest concentration by area of covered bridges in the country. Many of these bridges have been altered only slightly, and many relate to other structures and village-scapes to form a unique historic environment.
Bridge Description
The Cilley Covered Bridge consists of a single span supported by two flanking timber multiple kingpost trusses. The trusses form a rectangle in plan the portals, however, are skewed 2.5 feet each, giving the bridge its overall shape of a parallelogram. The structure rests on abutments built originally of irregular stone laid dry; the west abutment has been either faced or rebuilt with concrete.
The Cilley Bridge is 66 feet long at floor level. The ends of the side walls flare outward slightly to meet the gable ends which overhang the floor 1.5 feet at each portal. The bridge is 19 feet wide and has a 16-foot roadway. The wood floor, which consists of planks laid flat and parallel to the trusses, is rectangular and 57.5 feet long. The skewed approaches are paved at the west end and gravel at the east end of the bridge.
On the exterior, the timbers bolted together to form the trusses (and side walls) of the bridge are sheathed with unpainted flush boards hung vertically. Similar siding protects the ends of the trusses immediately inside the portals. There are two rectangular windows in the south wall near the west end of the bridge to provide visibility for the sharp curve in the road at that end of the bridge. The gable ends are also sheathed with unpainted flush boards hung vertically. The portal openings are rectangular. The medium-pitch gable roof is covered with standing seam metal sheeting.
South elevation (1973)
