A covered bridge is a technical name for a specific kind of structure not just any bridge with a roof.
Why did old bridges have roofs.
In areas with very high snowfall such as vermont the weight of snow could demolish a wooden bridge as most were.
Anglo saxon secular buildings in britain were generally simple constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing.
True covered bridges are defined by a timber truss or frame that distributes the weight of.
Truth is one of the jobs of a bridge tender in the old days was spreading snow on the floor of a covered bridge in winter so sleighs could get across.
They usually are covered to help keep the wooden floor from getting frosty in winter.
Unaltered examples of early crib barns normally have roofs of undressed wood shingles.
Because it wouldn t be a covered bridge if it didn t.
To keep snow off the bridge roadway in the winter.
Crib barns were typically built of unchinked logs although they were sometimes covered with vertical wood siding.
The earliest roofs constructed by man were probably thatched roofs that were made of straw leaves.
The roofs cover the bridges that s why they re called covered bridges if they didn t have roofs they wouldn t be covered bridges.
The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather.
In time shingle roofs were usually replaced with tin or asphalt.
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Roof covering of the top of a building serving to protect against rain snow sunlight wind and extremes of temperature roofs have been constructed in a wide variety of forms flat pitched vaulted domed or in combinations as dictated by technical economic or aesthetic considerations.
A covered bridge is a timber truss bridge with a roof decking and siding which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure.
As to why covered bridges were built some reckon that the roofs protected the beams from rotting or from freezing in bad weather.
A few characters say the bridges were covered to prevent horses from getting spooked when they realized they were above flowing water but about this theory we will not even speak.
Uncovered wooden bridges typically have a lifespan of only 20 years because of the effects of rain and sun but a covered bridge could last 100 years.
Others say that since these bridges look like barns animals would cross without fear.
A surprising number are on roads providing motorists with a brief back in time experience.
There are however many remains of anglo saxon church.
No universally accepted example survives above ground.