PHILIP CARTER, of Newton Abbot, writes: Historians like to be careful to draw a firm line between what can be established as fact and what is reported, and indeed repeated, but may or may not be true. First, we do not know for sure about the history of the steps. 'The small Union footbridge was built by public subscription in 1822, on the site of a previous ford. It is suggested the name may be because it served to join the two townships. It sounds logical but it is not known if this is true.' (These two townships were then Newton Abbot and Newton Bushel that did not become one town until as late as 1901). So the steps may have been built there for easier access to the ford. They may also have been put there in medieval times simply to give better access to the river, for water or disposal of rubbish. There was certainly no abbey or monastic building nearby. Going back in time there was, to use a modern parlance, a B-class Roman road from Exeter over Haldon to Teignbridge. It is possible that the ford was part of this route, with its continuation along Back Road. Going forward in time, there were two near drownings from close by. 'There was a lucky escape for a girl named Barrow, in 1872, who, playing on the steps at Union Bridge, fell into the river and was swept 150 yards through the tunnel. She was rescued by a young man, the miller and his ladder. The paper reported she was sent home 'not much worse for her immersion'. During the second world war, 'Iris Anderson, a four-year-old evacuee, fell into the Lemon near Union Bridge and was swept away underground. Her friends alerted her mother who ran through the market towards where the Lemon reappears. She shouted for help to a passing soldier, Sergeant Stokes, who dived in and rescued Iris'. As a postscript, one of the surprising finds of the last archæological dig was a mug that had been lost by one of the workers on a previous dig.
