Other British Bridges
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GROSMONT SUSPENSION FOOT BRIDGE nr Whitby, Yorkshire HEW 790, NZ828 052 (not visited)
This bridge over the Esk River with a span of 54 feet and was used to access the small tunnel for the Pickering-Whitby horse drawn rail road. It is similar to the footbridge at Huttons Ambro near Castle Howard.
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GAUNTLESS RR BRIDGE 1825 George Stephenson HEW 190 SE593 520 (not visited)
This bridge has had quite a history. It was originally built by the Burrell’s foundry in Newcastle to Stephenson’s design for the Stockton and Darlington Railway near Darlington and Shildon. Since then it has been ‘recycled’ five times and is now in the National Railway Museum as of 1975.
It has four 12 foot spans of trusses on cast iron trestles. The interlocking pieces are not bolted (which may account for why it was so easily moved so often). The curved pieces are of wrought iron cast into molded vertical legs which continue up to support the deck. The two walkways are supported by cantilever brackets which also help to make the structure rigid. M.F.Barbey likens it to “a Victorian bedstead end” (Civil Engineering Heritage, Northern England, M.F. Barbey p. 55)
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CYMBACH RR BRIDGE 1960 {N51o 41’ 47.7” W3o 24’ 34”}
This steel truss bridge incites the admiration of civil engineers for its pioneering design and construction techniques, especially its combination of welding and shear bolts according to W.J. Sivewright. It is sadly neglected and unused today, fenced off and surrounded by debris.
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CYFARTHFA II BRIDGE Dismantled in the 1960’s and is in storage at the Cyfarthfa Museum. Built around 1798 it has a 62 foot span with a cast-iron arch from which the deck is suspended. It was built to carry the rail road cars over the River Taff between the upper and the lower part of the Works. It was designed by Watkin George. Another iron bridge at the Cyfarthfa Works is known only from a water color done by Penry Williams in 1825.
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BUILDWAS
It is interesting to note that originally beside this river crossing was a Cistercian Abbey because it was the Cistercian Order that first invented the blast furnace and they were famous for their iron works. A medieval stone bridge here was the only crossing until one reached the ancient bridge nine miles down stream at Bridge North. In 1818 Thomas Telford designed his first iron bridge to replace the one damaged by the historic 1795 flood on the Severn. It was a radical new design to span 130 feet. Its outer ribs rose to the top of the parapet railings and were connected with the lower ribs by dovetailed king posts. The abutments were of stone. However, the underlying soils were unstable and Telford’s bridge was replaced in 1905.
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BRIGHTON STATION GOODS YARD RR BRIDGE 1852 HEW 493 TQ310 054 (not visited)
An elegant four rib cast iron bridge was used to provide a direct approach to the yards to reduce shunting movements. The goods yard had been closed and the bridge is unused.
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BRIDGEWATER TOWN BRIDGE HEW 1520 and HEW 1519 ST300 370 (Not visited)
There was a 1797 cast iron bridge (the first in Somerset) over the River Parrett which was cast at Coalbrookdale by Thomas Gregory who had done the iron work for The Iron Bridge there over the River Severn. This 75 foot span bridge of wrought iron replaced it in 1883 using the abutments of the old bridge.
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BIRTHDIR AQUEDUCT 1819 HEW 522 S198 022 {N52o 35’ 42.9” W 3o 11’ 9.5”}
This modest aqueduct about 45 feet long carries the Montgomeryshire Canal across a small stream just north of the Caer Howel iron bridge in a “box” made of cast iron plates. The designer was G. W. Buck. The landmark to look for on A483 is the Horseshoe Tavern. T he towpath goes across the uphill side of their back beer garden. Facing uphill, take a left turn onto the tow path and go a few hundred yards to find the aqueduct which is indicated by its iron ballasters.
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BAGBER BRIDGE near Sturminster Newton 1850 HEW 893 St764 157 (Not visited)
This modest-looking 31 foot cast iron beam bridge actually incorporates an interesting feature to alleviate the tensile stress on the girders. Wrought iron tie bars 1 ½ inches in diameter beneath the cast iron girders act to supplement their support as well as to counter the horizontal thrust of the segmental arched ribs of the girders which have a segmental arch rib ( six inches dep and 2 ½ inches thick) incorporated in their web. It is a form of pre-stressing and was also used in the Portland Dockyard No. 6 Boathouse. R.A. Otter points out that this was a very early form of “pre-stressing”. The designer was W. Dawes of the Coalbrookdale Co.
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ALBERT EDWARD RR BRIDGE near Buildwas, Shropshire 1864 HEW350 SJ659 038 (not visited)
Wenlock RR bridge carrying double line over the River Severn. Very similar to the Victoria Bridge near Arley (HEW 464) which was also designed by Sir John Fowler and cast by the Coalbrookdale Co. Single arch span with four cast iron ribs springing from brick abutments. The spandrels have vertical cast iron supports with heavy cross bracing which support the level deck. It was improved with steel beams and plates in 1933. See the Victoria Bridge at Arley also designed by Fowler and cast by the Coalbrookdale Co.
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Subcategories
Demolished Bridges (and some other notes)
Meole Bridge 1811 (demolished 1933)
Long Mill 1812 (demolished 1883)
Cantlop Bridge 1812 or 13 (still standing intact but not used by traffic)
Cound II 1818 (demolished in 1967 and recycled at Hall Park , Shrewsbury)
Betws-y-Coed 1816 (still carrying traffic)
Icknield Street Bridge 1818 (demolished)
Engine Arm Aqueduct 1827.
For bridges needing to span more than 100 feet, Hazledine and Telford came up with a design for a segmented arch having vertical or angled struts in the spandrels. The following bridges are cousins with this detail in common:
Bonar Bridge 1811 (demolished 1892)
Craigellachie 1814
Eaton Hall 1824
Windsor 1823 (Charles Hollis was engineer - demolished)
Bigsweir Bridge 1827 (Charles Hollis was engineer – demolished)
Mythe Bridge 1823
Holt Fleet Bridge 1827
Cleveland Bridge 1827
Galton Bridge 1829
Chepstow 1816 (John Hazledine and either John Rennie or J.V. Rasrick)
On the canals, a certain type of iron foot bridge called a “split bridge” was used and they are all very similar in design. The bridge crossing the canal is not a completed arch: the sides are cantilevered toward each other but do not meet at the center of the span, thereby leaving a gap through which the tow rope can be passed as the barge goes under the bridge. There are reportedly five split bridges on the Stafford & Worchester Canal built in 1772. No one in Great Haywood knew of one made by James Brindley (1716-1772) reportedly there on the Stafford to Stourport Canal and there are several on the Stourbridge Canal locks at Audnam dating from 1779 as well as one at Wordsley on the same canal. There is also one at the Iron Bridge Museum as well as one at the Spon Lane Locks in Birmingham.
As you will note in the description for the Rugby foot bridge at Cathiron, several identical bridges were made by the Horseley Ironworks from a design by Thomas Telford in the early 1830’s for improvements being made on the Oxford Canal. They are usually identified by the village they are near but trips to Brinklow and Newbold on Avon turned up no such bridges for a good distance in either direction from those villages. So, it is my thought that they are in places not accessible by road and can be viewed only by going by boat on the canal.
BRIDGES TORN DOWN RECENTLY
THREE FURNACES BR. aka WATERY LANE BR, Tipton, Staffordshire This road bridge over the canal at Tipton on Watery Lane as replaced in 2007/8 with a new steel bridge because of increasing industrial traffic.
FT BR IN TOWN CENTER, Brownhills, Staffordshire The old iron town foot bridge crossing the canal was torn down about 2006 and replaced with a modern bridge that can accommodate baby strollers and shopping carts and the handicapped "because the European Union gave us the money".
HEVENINGHAM HALL BR. 1812 Mentioned in 1980's H&H ICE book: designed by Sir Robert Taylor & James Wyatt for Capability Brown landscape in the early 1800's. The property has had many owners since and is now being re-landscaped for M/M Jon Hunt owners since1994 by Kim Wilkie & Assoc. who could find no evidence of an iron bridge anymore, even in storage. In fact, he is copying the stone bridge at Alnwick for the new lake and consulting Brown's original drawings.
BROWNHILLS FOOT BRIDGE There was an arcjed iron footbridge crossing the canal at the center of town until 2008. The municipality was given an EU grant for handicapped access projects. Since the old bridge had many steps, it was discarded in favor of the handsome modern ramped bridge.
BOSTON FOOT BRIDGE AT COWBRIDGE A 2009 search the length of Cowbridge Drain taking Wainfleet Road from the center of town revealed only one brick bridge over the ditch. It may be the original Rennie bridge's successor. A road crew was working on it and said it was the only one: they had never heard of the iron one.