British Iron Bridges

NorthEast

Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Durham

WALTON HALL 1828 Wakefield, Yorkshire SE363 163 N53o 38' 32.6" W1o 27' 5.2"

Thomas Waterton built his home Walton Hall on an island surrounded by a lake, both of his creation. A simple, elegant cast iron bridge spans the water to carry the carriage drive to the house. It has a span of about 90 feet and a width of about 15 feet. This was the home of his son Charles Waterton who was a famous explorer and naturalist. Today it is a hotel. Two ribs support the slight elliptical arch of the bridge with large rhomboid spaces in the spandrels. The effect is graceful and bold. No one there could tell me who designed and built it.

Iron motorboat

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Category: NorthEast

THORNHILL RR BRIDGES 1847 No. 6 & 8 YORKSHIRE HEW347 SE232 203 & HEW348 SE234 205 #6: N 53o 40' 44.2" W1o 38' 59.3" #8: N52o 28' 44.2" W1o 54' 49.0"

These bridges carry the former London and North Western RR across the Calder and Hebble Navigation and the River Calder respectively and carry considerable train traffic even today. They were designed by Thomas Graiger and cast by Joseph Buler of Stanningley, Leeds. They each have similar arches with similar decorative spandrels featuring gothic motifs. Number 6 has one skew arch with bold stepped masonry abutments to accommodate that angle. It has six ribs which span about 130 feet. Number 8 has two spans of about 100 feet with six ribs. They are said to be the oldest cast iron bridges still in heavy use.

The difficulty is in finding them because one cannot take a car anywhere near the single arch #6. One must hike along the Calder & Hebble Canal. The best place to enter is the Forge Road bridge between Thornhill and Ravensthorpe where there are steps down to the canal. Go under the road and walk for about ten minutes to reach Number 6.

The double arched Number 8 bridge crosses the River Calder and is very close to Ravensthorpe. On the main street, take a turn downhill at the Office Furniture Store opposite the Ravens Wharf Hotel on a street called Ravens Wharf Rd but not marked and at the end of the block you can walk through beside the iron gates of a parking lot down to the footpath along the river. To your left very soon is the bridge.

 

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Category: NorthEast

STANLEY FERRY AQUEDUCT 1828-29 George Leather YORKSHIRE HEW 191 SE355 250 N53o 39' 30.2" W0o 31' 41.4"

This remarkable aqueduct is really a tied arch bowstring suspension bridge carrying the Aire and Calder Navigation over the River Calder. The huge cast iron trough which is 165 feet long by 24 feet wide and eight and a half feet deep (940 tons of water) is suspended by wrought iron hangers from a pair of cast iron segmental arches made up of seven sections each. The castings were by the Milton Iron Works near Sheffield. A whimsical touch to such a bold and assertive structure is the row of 'doric' columns along the sides of the trough which serve to emphasize the horizontal line.

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Category: NorthEast

SPA BRIDGE SCARBOROUGH 1827 Yorkshire HEW211 TA044 882 N54o 16' 42.6" W0o 23' 58"

This four span cast iron arch bridge some 22 feet wide and about 266 feet long was originally the carriage drive to the Grand Hotel on the beach at Scarborough. It is said to have been designed by a Mr. Outhett, but M.F. Barbey finds design details in it very similar to other works by George Leathers of Leeds such as the same radial spandrel members and the scale and paneling of the tall stone piers. (Civil Engineering Heritage: Northern England M.F. Barbey, page 63) The lovely sea views framed between its arches and the whole fantastic scale of the bridge adds to the holiday spirit of the place.

 

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Category: NorthEast

SCARBOROUGH FOOT BRIDGE 1840's ? N54o 16' 42.6" W0o 23' 58.0

Just around the corner of the Spa Hotel a small footbridge crosses high above the road to carry pedestrians from a park into a building which may be part of the Spa Hotel. The airy parapet design and the trefoil design in the spandrel would date it to the late Regency or early Victorian period.

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Category: NorthEast

RIPLEY FOOT BRIDGE YORKSHIRE SE283 606 N54o 2' 20.8"

This perfect Regency town near Harrogate has a castle with a charming cast iron bridge in its garden. Although it is on private property, one has an excellent view of it over a low wall along the town foot path past the castle entrance. The span must be about 30 feet carried on two very shallow ribs. The width would appear to be about three feet. I would date it about 1830 or 40.

 

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Category: NorthEast

NEWCASTLE ON TYNE HIGH LEVEL RR BRIDGE 1849 Robert Stephenson N54o 58’ 7.5” W1o 36’ 20.2” HEW22 NZ 252 437

This dramatic bridge carries the Newcastle and Darlington RR line over the River Tyne on its top deck and the vehicular roadway on the lower deck. This was the first time cast iron girders were used in a project this large. There are six spans of 125 feet each and the high masonry viaducts on either side are each 251 feet long. The height above the water is 120 feet.

The six cast iron arches support the railway deck at the crown of their arch with cast iron columns while wrought iron rods suspend the roadway lower deck at the level of the arch springing where the outward thrust of the arches is contained by wrought iron tension chains.

The drama of this bridge is heightened by its industrial setting and the bustling river traffic below. It dominates the scene although it is adjacent to two other dramatic bridges: The Tyne Bridge of 1930 and the 1876 Swing Bridge.

High Level RR Br. 1845 R. Stephenson

 

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Category: NorthEast

NENE RR BRIDGE 1850 Peterborough, Cambridgeshire N 52o 34’ 05.08” W0o 14’ 42.44” HEW93 TL191 981

This handsome bridge was built by Thomas Brassey (1805-70) for the Great Northern Railway. It has three semi-elliptical cast iron arches each one resting on a pair of cast iron fluted Doric columns and carries the Great Northern Railroad across the River Nene. Each arch spans 66 feet with six ribs set in pairs. The arches are framed in solid arched girders, but the spandrels have a diamond lattice design. The concept of greek columns supporting the arches of a bridge can be seen in the Macclesfield Bridge 1815 on the Regent's Canal, London which Mr. Brassey may have seen.

The Twentieth Century was not kind to this bold, elegant rail road bridge. At least it was not torn down. It has been strengthened with steel bracing and with solid steel panels behind the spandrels so that it can still carry the up trains of the East Coast Main Line. However an extremely unfortunate boxy girder bridge has been built right beside it to carry the tracks of the down trains and it dwarfs the old bridge's elegant scale and completely hides it from one side.

This makes it difficult to find and many Petersborough natives don't know it exists. It is located on A605 which is Oundle Road. Look for the Rail World Museum which is under the masonry arches of the viaducts. From their parking lot you can see the old bridge peeking out under the new truss box bridge as they both cross the River Nene there.

 

 

 

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Category: NorthEast

MYTON ON SWALE BRIDGE 1868 YORKSHIRE SE436 667 N54O 5' 40.1" W1o 20 5.4"

Previous bridges on this site were washed out and so for centuries there was only ferry service. Lord of the Manor, Major Henry Miles Stapylton, paid for this elegant cast iron single arch bridge to be designed and built by G. Gordon Page who also built Westminster Bridge in London. Three pairs of arches with pierced spandrel design spring from handsome brick abutments. The bridge was completely updated in 2002. It is 196 plus feet long and 15 feet wide.

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Category: NorthEast

KIRKSTALL BRIDGE YORKSHIRE 1913 N53o 48' 57.9" W1o 36' 25.7"

This late flowering Victorian two span bridge carries the road bridge across the River Aire and the railroad tracks near Kirkstall Abbey in the Leeds vicinity. It has a stepped parapet railing and the verticle piercing of the cast iron balastrade of the balastrade is repeated in the vertical piercing of the cast ironspandrels which act as skirts to disguise that it is a girder bridge. I has a Victorian boldness and only the heavy handed stone pillars give away that it is Edwardian.

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Category: NorthEast

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