Birchenough Bridge

Location:
Birchenough Bridge is both the name for the bridge across the Save and the small town which lies next to the Bridge some 62 kilometers from Chipinge in the Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe. The town serves as a centre of a small-scale farming area.

Background:

The bridge links Mutare with Masvingo, it lies almost halfway between the two cities. The bridge was funded by the Beit Trust, and during the Chairmanship of the trust by Sir Henry Birchenough. His ashes and his wives are buried beneath the structure of the bridge.The bridge was designed by Ralph Freeman who was also the structural designer on the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia hence the close resemblance. It was built by Dorman Long and completed in 1935 and was the third longest single-arch suspension bridge in the world at the time at a length of 329 m (1,080 feet). In the 1970s a 40-tonne load limit was imposed on the bridge but in 1984 the bridge was widened (roadway: 7.2 m to 10 m wide) and strengthened as part of the World Bank’s Highway Project.

Plaque One Inscription “Within these walls repose the ashes of Sir Henry Birchenough and of Mabel his wife. They wished to be laid to rest in the country they had served among the people they had loved Rhodesia will hold them for ever in fond and grateful memory” “E’en in our ashes live, their wonted fires – AD1937?

Plaque Two Inscription ““This was erected by the Beit Railway Trustees out of funds bequeathed by the late Alfred Beit and at the request of the people of Rhodesia was named The Birchenough Bridge in recognition of the services rendered to the country by Sir Henry Birchenough AD1925 – Ralph Freeman – Engineer”