Swiss Bridge

John Crichton-Stuart inherited his title and estates at the age of six months, in 1848 on the death of his father the second Marquess. His father's shrewd investments in the development of the port and city of Cardiff, and the enormous revenues from coal, together with his wider patrimony, left the third marquess very considerable wealth and at the time of his coming of age he was claimed to be "the richest man in the world". In 1865, the Marquess met William Burges and the two embarked on an architectural partnership, the results of which long outlasted Burges' own death in 1881. Bute's desires and money allied with Burges' fantastical imagination and skill led to the creation of two of…

Burges modelled the bridge on the medieval Kapellbrücke at Lucerne which he had seen on his European travels in the 1850s. Like the Kapellbrücke, the Swiss Bridge was built in timber, constructed on a framework of stilts built over the leat. It had over-large eaves on the roof, topped with weathervanes fashioned into the initial B. The bridge concluded with a small summer-house on the Bute Park side. The bridge was constructed by Estcourts of Gloucester, prominent builders who worked for Burges on a number of projects and whose bill was £1,108. The architectural historian and Burges expert Joseph Mordaunt Crook called it a "jeu d'esprit, unique in this country".