British Iron Bridges

Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

GALTON BRIDGE 1829 Smethwick Thomas Telford HEW 1197 SP029 890 N52o 30' 7.1" W1o 58' 44.9"

The original Birmingham Canal was laid out by James Brinkley in the 1770's following the contour lines to maintain the level which resulted in a very lengthy canal. ThomasTelford was commissioned in the 1820's to make improvements. This bridge crosses a deep cutting he made which lowered the Birmingham Canal level and eliminated six summit locks.

The design of the iron work is very similar to Telford's Holt Fleet Bridge and his Mythe Bridge. However, Telford always shows originality and flare in the design of the masonry abutments of his bridges (having apprenticed as a lad with a mason). The masonry of all three of these bridges is unique to that bridge, so that a casual observer would not notice the similarity of the iron work. A single cast iron arch has a 150 foot span. There are six arch ribs, each made up of seven segments of diagonally intersecting ribs. The bottom chord of each rib is accentuated with a band of different diamond pattern similar to that of the foot bridges for the Birmimgham Canal he also designed. They were all cast by the Horseley Iron Works.

The Galton Bridge is now adjacent to a handsome, simple arch viaduct of blue Staffordshire brick and the train station is beside the north end of the bridge.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

ENGINE ARM AQUEDUCT 1827-30 Thomas Telford HEW 492 SP024 888 N56o 29' 53.4" W1o 57' 59.1"

James Brinkley's and John Smearton's original 18th century canal followed the contour line to maintain its level. Thomas Telford laid out a new, shorter line for the Birmingham Canal in the late 1820's which bypassed some of the loops of the old canal but which also involved more locks and more cuts. Canals need to be replenished at their summit to maintain their water level. This aqueduct carries water from the Rotton Park Reservoir (now called the Edgbaston Resevoir) at the top of the Smethwick lock flight twenty feet above the Birmingham Canal’s later and lower level as part of Telford's improvements to this waterway. The Smethwick Engine of its name pumped water from the lower new canal level back up to the summit.

The ironwork was cast by the Horseley Company. The cast iron trough is supported on a single arch of 52 foot span with five ribs with the tow paths supported by cast iron arcades decorated with gothic designs. The bridge spandrels, similar to Telford bridges at are braced with radial ribs. The rhomboidal openings in the spandrels create an optical illusion that they are curved which gives the bridge both an airy and a bold posture. Telford used this design for the spandrels of other bridges: Meole Brace Bridge 1813, Cound II 1818, Stokesay Bridge 1823, Cantlop Bridge 1812 and Atcham Bridge 1818 of which only Cantlop Bridge has avoided dismantling.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

DUDLEY PORT AREA BRIDGES Birmingham Canal Navigation “Horseley Iron Co.1855’

Improvements made to the Birmingham Canal Navigation system in the mid 19th century included a number of branches including the Gower Branch at Tividale, and the Bradeshall Branch and the Toll End Branch all around the Dudley Port area. At each junction there is one or more Horseley Company iron foot bridges of the type originally designed by Thomas Telford for his improvements to that canal system in the late 1820's in the Birmingham neighborhood. This design, cast by the Horseley Company of Tipton, was used throughout the canal systems that Telford worked on and after his death the Horseley Company continued to cast them for subsequent canal improvements and expansion. The 1820's bridges have more elaborate cut-out details in their parapets than the later ones as here which have a simplified XXX detail. The exception is the very plain bridge at Gower Junction (the southern end of the Bladeshall Branch which is of a later date.

These are 'roving bridges' which allow a pedestrian or the horse towing the canal boat to cross over to the other side of the canal. The parapet is low, as are the smoothly rounded wings of the approach ramps for ease in sliding over the tow rope. You can still see the diamond pattern of the raised iron ribbing which would have held in place the dirt or turf that once covered the bridge decking and gave the horse's hooves some purchase. Today, they are filled in with tarmac for the convenience of joggers and bicyclists.

The branch bridges are difficult to get to because on the north side, the railway tracks prevent access to the canal. On the A461 between Dudley Port and Great Bridge, take the first road to the west (not well marked), after going under the train viaduct and the canal aqueduct. Several hundred yards ahead, there is a small dirt road to your right going down to the canal. Further along A461, another right turn is Tipton Road/Dudley Road East that goes along the south end of the grid of branch canals. Prepare to do some long hikes along the towpaths.

  • Dudley Port Junction N52o 31’ 19.7 W2o 2’ 36.4”
  • Tame Valley Junction N51o 48’ 17.1” W0o 3’ 24”
  • Dudley Port Branch Aqueduct N52o 31’ 26.1” W2o 2’ 54.4”
  • Brades Hall Junction N52o 31’ 3.9” W2o 1’ 45.7”
  • Gower Junction N52o 30’ 36.6” W2o 1’ 59.6”
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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

BROWNHILLS AQUEDUCT 1850 HEW 283 SK053 064 N52o 30' 20" W1o 55' 25.8"

This aqueduct which still carries the Anglesey Branch of the Wyrley and Essington Canal over the now abandoned Walsall- Lichfield RR has a twin nearby, the Birchills/Keamore Aqueduct. They were built by Fosters & Company Engineers of Wednesbury. In spite of encroaching greenery and creative graffiti on the plain tall iron parapets on the canal level, from below the aqueduct retains its 19th century bold iron work supported by abutment towers and a central column of blue Staffordshire brick. There is nice detailing on the outside of the parapets. A screening arch has an XX detail in the spandrels. Stiffening fins along the bottom of the trough are masked by a very shallow arch on the outside panels.

The top of the aqueduct with the canal is to the west of a very busy intersection of A5 (Watling Street) and B5011 (Chase Street) A path from Chase street leads right to it. To see the underside is not easy and one has to slide down a steep incline of brambles and weeds off the side of A5 or walk through the tunnel that took the tracks under the big intersection and wend one's way through the weeds growing in the old track right of way.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

BROMFORD JUNCTION BRIDGES 1829 N52o 30' 26" W2o 0' 17.2"

This pair of elegant bridges on the Birmingham Canal Navigation lies within a maze of motorways but appears to be in the deep country. They are adjacent to the Spon Lane Locks. Getting to them by the canal tow path involves walking under the M5 motorway and through many slick mud puddles as the seepage from the embankments of the motorway trickles down into the canal across the path. However this little oasis in the urban jungle is popular with bicyclists and fishermen.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

BIRMINGHAM CANAL NAVIGATION HORSELEY BRIDGES 1828-29 N52o 29' 50.01" and N52o 29' 7.7"

 

 

 

Thomas Telford was commissioned to improve James Brindley's 1770's Birmingham Canal which had been built following the contour lines for ease of construction and fewer locks. Telford shortened the length of the canal by cutting off some loops of the original route and adding locks in the cuttings. In doing so, he needed to bridge the resulting junctions as well as take the tow path over new locks supply outflows which maintained the water level. He designed a basic canal bridge for the new junctions which the Horseley Iron Works cast for him. Two examples occur on the south side of the canal between Rabone Junction (aka Smethwick Junction) and the Engine Arm Aqueduct on the lower level new canal branch.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

BIRCHILLS/LEAMORE AQUEDUCT 1846 HEW 830 SK 009 004 N52o 36' 8.2" W1o 59' 17.3"

This aqueduct carries the Wysley and Essington Canal over the very busy Cannock Branch of the LNWR Railroad line. It was built by Lloyd Foster & Company of Wednesbury in 1846. It is the twin of the Brownhills Aqueduct. Although not particularly impressive from the top beside the canal since the parapets are tall solid iron panels, from the side or from below it is an impressive structure with the usual 19th century boldness of masonry abutments and single supporting column and nice detailing on the outside of the parapet. A screening arch has an XX detail in the spandrels which also masks the stiffening fins along the bottom of the trough.

To find the aqueduct take a small residential road on the east side of Bloxwich Road (B4210) called Forest Lane. Go over the tracks on the road bridge to the end of the close. There is a path there to the canal and the top of the aqueduct. Parallel to the road bridge over the train tracks is a modern foot bridge from which one can see the side of the aqueduct.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

ANGLESEY/OGLEY JUNCTION CANAL BRIDGE 1829 N52o 39' 6.2" W1o 54' 58.3"

This is a classic "Horseley Iron Works 1829" bridge with the extra detailing in very crisp casting as in the other bridges they provided to Thomas Telford's design on the Wyrley & Essington Canal and throughout the Birmingham Canal Navigation. The clover leaf cut-outs below the parapet railing and the raised molding detail around the X openings in the parapet are very satisfying. Their later bridges are simpler and less lovingly detailed although in appearance almost the same.

This bridge can be found by leaving Brownhills at the roundabout with the huge miner's statue on the B4155 Litchfield Road which crosses the canal at a brick road bridge. If you pass the large garden center, you have gone too far. Access to the canal is beside the brick bridge.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

WINSTON GREEN JUNCTION BRIDGES 1848 Birmingham Canal Navigation N52o 29' 28.8" W1o 56' 32.9"

The Winston Green Junction is at the western end of the old Soho Loop where it joins the new main canal, close to the Winston Green Prison. These bridges were cast by the Horseley Iron Works and follow the design of Thomas Telford who made major improvements in the 1820's to the original canal laid out by James Brindley in the 1770's. They are much simpler than the 1820's bridges further along the canal, having only simple cross lattices in the parapet without the gothic cut outs of the 1820's bridges. They are elegant and graceful with a shallow elliptical arch which allows more headroom near the abutments than would a Roman arch. Their purpose is to allow the tow horse to cross the canal to a path on its other side.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

TAME VALLEY CANAL JUNCTION BRIDGES 1844 Wednesbury West Midlands SO977 936 N51o 48' 17.1" W0o 3' 24"

This junction in the modern Birmingham Canal Navigation near Ocker Hill was part of The Tame Valley Canal network that was opened in 1844 to relieve the congestion on the old Birmingham canal system first laid out by James Brindley in the 1770's. The Horseley Iron Company of Tipton had made iron canal foot bridges of Thomas Telford's design for his improvements to the Brindley canals during the late 1820's. The company continued to produce this basic bridge for the next thirty years. They occur throughout the Tame Valley canal system, especially at the junctions where a roving bridge was needed to allow the towing horse to cross the canal to another tow path.

Off a roundabout on the A41 between Ocker Hill and Wednesbury, there is a huge shopping center with an ASDA/Walmart store. Go to the far corner of the parking lot by the Boots where there is a modern foot bridge across the canal. Walk to your right (with your back to the parking lot) along the canal for 20 minutes to the Tame Valley Junction bridges.

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Category: Wolverton & Birmingham Metropolitan Area

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