Nonsan Seokseongsutangseokgyo Bridge

This is a flat beam bridge (pyeonggyo) consisting of flat stone slabs laid across five piers, forming a shape resembling "〕- - - - -〔", with natural-stone abutments built on the east and west banks; stone steps were also built on both riverbanks to allow access to the bridge. It measures 13.5m in total length, 1.15–1.38m in width and about 3.2m at its highest point. Sutanggyo Bridge was a stone bridge laid across Seokseongcheon Stream, which flows through the broad plain of Seongdong field on the border between Nonsan and Buyeo; Joseon-period geographical texts such as the Dongguk yeoji seungnam record it under the names Sutangseokgyo, Sutangcheongyo and Sutanggyo, but local residents call it "Juchang Bridge." Even into the Japanese colonial period it served as the main road used by farmers travelling to work the fields of Seokseong, but as the road between Buyeo and Nonsan was widened and Gungyegyo Bridge and nearby embankments were built, sediment built up in Seokseongcheon Stream and the bridge gradually lost its function; it is said that its deck could still be seen as recently as about twenty years ago. In 1998, when a resident of Wonbuk-ri, Seongdong-myeon, Nonsan, used a power excavator to roughly remove the sediment covering the buried bridge in order to check on it, the stone members of the bridge sustained serious damage; on learning of this, the city of Nonsan promptly had Chungnam National University Museum carry out an excavation, and the recovered stone elements were collected, arranged and are now kept at the tomb precinct of General Gyebaek. A granite stele recording repairs to the bridge, found together with the stone members during the excavation, names the bridge "Seokseong Sutangseokgyo" and records that it was repaired in the fourth month of the gyeongsin year, the fifth year of the Qianlong era, showing that the bridge was repaired in 1740. Because the date of its repair is firmly confirmed, it is valuable evidence for understanding the bridge structure of that period; moreover, as a stone bridge retaining the traditional style of the late Goryeo to early Joseon period, it has faithfully preserved its original structure despite repeated repairs, making it important academic material for the study of stone bridges in Korea.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Nonsan, Chungnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료