SWANSEA - A look into Swansea's early history has answered questions about the history of the so-called "Bungtown Bridge," including one crucial detail: Its real name is not the "Bungtown Bridge."
The issue of the bridge's name came up at a Swansea Board of Selectmen meeting in June, when the selectmen discussed the idea of renaming the bridge in honor of the late Lt. Robert Cabral, the well-liked policeman known by many as Officer Bob. At that meeting, former charter commission member Carole Hyland raised the issue of how the bridge got its current name, prompting Town Administrator Jim Kern to look into the bridge's history. For this, Mr. Kern consulted Library Director Kevin Lawton, who quickly made an important determination: It seemed that the bridge's official name was in fact the Myles Bridge, something Mr. Lawton said he had been fairly certain of for a long time.
"I knew it was called the Myles Bridge way back when," Mr. Lawton said.
"Jim asked me to see what the history of it was."
One of the key clues Mr. Lawton found in researching the bridge's history was a news document passed his way by the Swansea Historical Society. That document told of "an act passed by the Province of Massachusetts Bay" in December of 1749, enabling the town of Swansea to run a lottery, which normally would have violated Massachusetts law at the time. The reason for allowing a lottery in Swansea, the document said, was to help the town pay for work performed on a causeway near the bridge. At the time, the Fathers of Swansey (as the town's name was commonly spelled at the time) claimed that the town could not pay for work on the bridge otherwise, due to the fact that much of the town's former territory had been handed over to Rhode Island when the states' borders were demarcated.
What's a bung?
The bridge apparently got its name from John Myles, a Welsh preacher in the Church of England who is credited with being among the first to settle in what is now Swansea. The town was named after his hometown of Swansea, Wales. His son, also name John, was Swansea's first town clerk, according
to a document provided by Mr. Lawton. Descendants of John Myles have often spelled their last name "Miles," leading to a mixture of spellings of both their name and that of the bridge.
So why has the bridge been called the Bungtown Bridge? Mr. Lawton speculated that this could have been due to the prevalence of the shipbuilding industry in Swansea over a century ago. A bung, he said, was a spigot or cork-type piece of material used to plug the barrels often used to carry liquid cargo on ships. Mr. Lawton said he felt the bridge's name (the Myles Bridge or Miles Bridge) was of great historical importance. For this reason, he said he respectfully disagreed with the idea of naming the bridge after Lt. Cabral.
"To me, John Myles was the founder of the town," Mr. Lawton said.
"So it doesn't seem appropriate to change the name."
Town officials have not made an official decision on whether to rename the bridge or formally recognize its original name. The matter is expected to be discussed at the next meeting of the board of selectmen, on August 8.
By Vinaya Saksena
vsaksena@eastbaynewspapers.com