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.