Is Burton upon Trent a romantic place? Well, there are four pairs of lovers in the town at least...
On the Andressey foot-bridge, you will find four padlocks.
Each is a 'love-lock', following the recent tradition (can a tradition be recent? hmm) started in Paris, where couples etch their initials on to a padlock, fasten it to a bridge, and then throw the key in the river - as a symbol of their enduring love for one another.
I have a feeling there will be more added during Valentine's Day.
This post was featured on the My Town Shoot-out Photo Blog
The damage it's done to bridges in Paris should have been enough to convince people to stop doing it, but unfortunately people seem to have little regard beyond their own wishes.
ReplyDeleteNot quite right there Mark. I first came across a lock bridge in Poland and wrote about it in my blog, here.
ReplyDeletehttp://matthewepointon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/berlin-to-odz-2013-day-3.html
I researched the story behind it and apparently the legend behind them is relatively modern. It comes from a 1992 love story by the Italian author Federico Moccia,'Tre metri sopra il cielo' ('You and I are three metres above the sky) which was later made into a film. In it the two young lovers attach a padlock to Rome's Ponte Milvio and then throw the key into the Tiber River, thus binding the couple together for all eternity. Ahh...
I didn't know about the book...
DeleteAlso, one could state that the bridge in Burton is connected with love in a very different way. It connects the town with Andresey, an island in the Trent where St. Modwen, the founder of the town and inspiration behind a construction company, settled after her pilgrimage to Rome and built a community of pious nuns. Miracles took place there including one where she split the waters of the Trent Moses-style in order to save the lives of several young virgins who had capsized their boat on the river whilst fetching holy texts for her and her friend St. Hardulph. Amen.
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