New is an interesting title for a bridge recorded as built in 1520, but new it is in the sense that there was an older one. The bridge is one of several of similar form across the Tamar, so from Devon to Cornwall. Until Brunel’s Bridge at Saltash it was the lowest bridge across the Tamar.
Do disused viaducts count? This one has a lot to offer in the way of strange details. Years ago, Tavistock was served by two independent railways. The Great Western came along the valley floor in 1859 and the Southern (well, strictly the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway) arrived in 1890, high above the town to the north.
This bridge is part of the highway system built by General George Wade after the 1715 rebellion. Before that there were no roads north of Perth. It is somewhat unusual in that we have the original contract.
Moor street station was built in the early 1900s as a terminus serving commuter lines into Birmingham from Leamington and Warwick. It is built on the side of a hill and though the station entrance is at ground level, the tracks are elevated on a blue brick viaduct. The space beneath was occupied by goods facilities with traversers and lifts. The piers of the viaduct have large arches to deliver clear space. That space is now a car park, and therefore readily accessible.
The Causey Arch was built in 1725-7. It has reasonable claims to being the first railway bridge in the world and for 30 years was the longest single span in the UK at 105ft (OK 32m). The mason was Ralph Wood. It was eventually passed by the new Bridge at Pontipridd by William Edwards.
This bridge, over Pinhoe Road in Exeter carries the branch line from Exeter to Exmouth. The single track is slightly more skewed than he bridge itself. It illustrates the ability to measure such things as skew from publicly available data.
Pictures of this bridge were given to me some years ago and I couldn’t place them. (Shortly after this was published I received an email from Jose Martin Caro to say that the bridge is between Venta de Baños and Burgos in Spain.) The main reason for putting it here is the clues it gives to construction.
Several early railways to Kent run south east from near London Bridge Station on viaducts and the combined viaducts are beginning to spread. They are, of course, independent, though where they abut one another the construction may vary.
Leaths Bridge is just to the East of Castle Douglas in SW Scotland. Long disused, it used to carry the A745 over the railway but the railway was closed and the alignment taken over for realignment of the road. The bridge was left in a loop and totally neglected for many years.
Hubberholme is a joyous memory from student days, right at the top of Langstrothdale. It is famous for its church but for us, the bridge is more significant. This general style of construction is not particularly common.
Balcombe Viaduct on the London‐Brighton line is a magnificent structure, so much so that it shows clearly on Google satelite photographs and in streetview. That it is magnificent is enough to make it worth consideration, but there is room for a little more thought about what has been done here both in an engineering and an architectural sense.
Bridgemill no longer exists. It stood on the A77 near Girvan and was tested, notionally to destruction, in 1984. The test has been used as part of the justification for a number of non‐sensical statements about arch bridge behaviour.
Brunel and his team of engineers built some amazing bridges. This one, though small is in a class of its own. The railway was originally single track, broad gauge. When widened, the only way was with a beam bridge.
This bridge stood just off the A76 in Dumfries and Galloway. The G&SW was designed by John Millar. The railway was opened in stages around 1850 and this is in part of the last section. It was demolished some years ago and features here because that demolition was recorded and I have some photographs.
Large parts of this structure were demolished during the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link or HS1 as it is now known. It isn’t often you get to see a bridge sectioned in this direction. The section shows a lot of the detail of construction of bridges in the high railway era.
Thomas Telford was responsible for many great bridges and Dean bridge is one of the most celebrated (though least seen). The bridge was built in 1833 and shows the progressive development of Telford’s bridges.
