bridge wall n sePA, MD, WV Cf barn bridge n, barn hill n, wharfing n
A retaining wall forming one side of the ramp leading to the upper level of a barn; the ramp itself.
1838 Farmers’ Cabinet 2.196 sePA, The bridge wall for the road-way into the barn, extends two or three inches under the barn floor joists at one end, and extends on each side of the road-way a sufficient distance from the barn, to make the road-way (when filled with earth) a suitable angle of elevation toward the barn. 1852 Cultivator 9.344 sePA, The third or threshing floor, eight feet higher, extends 14 feet in width . . from the bridgewall to the front of overshot— . . the large doors at the north end opening into a dormer covering the space between the bridge wall and barn. 1888 Herald & Torch-Light (Hagerstown MD) 6 Dec 1/3, [Advt:] The barn also is nearly new. . . It is 50×80 feet, with double floors, 2 mows and 2 granaries, and a useful and substantial cave is built under the bridge wall. 1928 Evans Hist. Berkeley Co. WV 53 neWV, When visited by the author, July 4, 1927, it [=Fort Frederick] was still in a fine state of preservation excepting a few feet of the southern wall which had been torn down and used for a stone foundation and a bridge wall of a large barn. 1982 Barrick Coll. sePA, Bridgewall—ramp leading to upper level of Penna. barn. Common.