Wadebridge is a market town on the river Camel, five miles upstream from Padstow, and it takes its name from its bridge. In Kernewek it is Ponswad. The bridge was begun in 1468 and completed in 1485, carrying the road over the river on many arches, and wool was part of how it was paid for: it has been known ever since as the Bridge on Wool.
The road and the railway
In 1646 Parliamentary forces under Cromwell came to take the bridge, and the town has watched the crossing matter ever since. The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway opened on 30 September 1834 to carry sand from the estuary inland as fertiliser for the fields, and the last passenger train ran in 1967. The trackbed is now the Camel Trail, walked and cycled by a great many people every year.
The show
Every June the Royal Cornwall Show is held at the Wadebridge showground, on its present site since 1960, and the Cornwall Folk Festival has filled the town since 1972. A market town with a bridge at its centre and a river to walk beside, it does both jobs well.
Sources
Last checked: 2026-10-11