Dingleton Hill Covered Bridge

Site: N08-7
Municipality: Cornish, NH
Location: Town House Road at Dingleton Hill Road
Site Type: Covered Bridge
UTMs: (Zone 18) E: 712817. N: 4815714.

DESCRIPTION:

The Dingleton Hill Covered Bridge (Cornish Mills Bridge) is an excellent example of a multiple Kingpost Truss type all wood covered bridge. It consists of a single span with an exterior length of 81 feet, and exterior width of 16 1/2 feet; the deck (roadway) is 79 feet long and 14 1/2 feet wide.

The original dry-laid stone abutment remains at the south end of the bridge; a similar abutment at the north end was replaced with concrete in 1954.

The truss contains twenty-two panels and twenty-three posts on each side. The panel posts and top and bottom chords are fastened together with iron bolts. The lower half of the exterior sides of the trusses is sheathed up with plain butted vertical boards (some of which are missing); the upper portion of the trusses is exposed.

The portals are of the segmental/triangular style, sheathed with plain butted vertical boards; the gabled roof (of moderately-steep pitch) is covered with corrugated sheet metal, replacing earlier wooden shingles.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Excellent example of multiple Kingpost Truss type Covered Bridge.

Designed and built by James Tasker (1826-1903) of Cornish, New Hampshire. Tasker was paid $812 in February, 1803 [sic], after the bridge had been completed the previous year. (Cornish Records, 1883)

The National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, World Guide to Covered Bridges number for the Dingleton Hill Covered Bridge is 29-10-02; New Hampshire Department of Public Works and Highways number is 080/095, and the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development Survey of Bridges number is 22.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Child, William H. History of Cornish, New Hampshire, 1763-1910 (Concord, N.H., 1911) 2 vols.

Cornish, Town of. Selectmen's Journal & Records for 1883, Selectmen's Office.

Kenyon, Thedia C., New Hampshire's Covered Bridges, p. 65.

Keyworth, William G. The Covered Bridges of New Hampshire.

White, W. Edward. Covered Bridges of New Hampshire (Plymouth, NH), p. 41.

FORM PREPARED BY: John H. Dryfhout, Rural Route 2, Cornish, NH. Tel: not given. Date: 1974.

DATE ENTERED: November 8, 1978.
(Source 27)