M y interest in bridges dates back to my schooldays, when I was given a copy of Hubert Shirley-Smith’s The World’s Great Bridges in 1953 or 1954, and my decision at about that time to become a civil engineer. Since then, many people who have known about this interest have sent me postcards of bridges or given me information about bridges, much of which has been very useful in the compilation of this book. However, it was only when I was completing the research as a retirement project and realised a publishable product might emerge that I began properly to record the names of those who had helped me. The formal acknowledgements that follow may therefore leave out the names of people who should have been included, and I hope that anyone whose name has been omitted due to my forgetfulness or incompetence will accept this heartfelt general thankyou.
First, I must thank the new publisher and book production consultancy Priory Ash, without whom this work might never have appeared in print. Will Adams and Mick Sanders liked the concept and have worked tirelessly to design such a handsome volume. It has been a great pleasure to work with them and I hope their new business achieves the success it deserves. Second, I must also thank Halcrow, for whom I began my career as a graduate civil engineer in 1959, and Roger Buckby, previously Halcrow’s Director of Bridge Engineering and now a consultant to the firm, who arranged for Halcrow to prepare all the CAD diagrams, and also provided information on his firm’s Clyde Arc, Orwell, Second Severn, Taw and White Horse Wembley Bridges.
I have been a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) since joining as a student about sixty years ago and it is therefore particularly pleasing to be able to make special mention of the Institution’s library. Michael Chrimes and all his staff found much information for me and Michael also gave me helpful feedback on various drafts of the book as work has proceeded. Other very useful help came from Carol Morgan, the archivist. In addition, Gordon Masterton, a past President of the Institution, was interested and supportive and sent me copies of several of his papers on bridges. I am also grateful to the Institution for allowing me to use bridge photographs from its extensive collections. Other librarians and archivists who provided help have included: Alaine Allen (Newark Bridges, Newark Library), Tim Ashworth (Broughton Bridge, Salford Local History Library), Sue Baker (Shoreham-by-Sea Bridges, Marlipins Museum), Michael Driver (Brick Development Association) and Michael Hammett (British Brick Society), Cait McCullagh and Rachael Shepherd (Ness Bridge, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery and Highland Archive Centre), Edwin Trout and Ben Wilcox (Concrete Society), Jackie Smith (Abingdon Bridge, Abingdon Town Council), Nick Wickenden (Pleshey Castle Bridge, Chelmsford Museums) and Pamela Wood (Historic Scotland). Emma Whinton-Brown (English Heritage), Philip Hobson (Cadw) and Fiona Mackenzie (Historic Scotland) gave me the names of many of Britain’s Grade I and Grade A listed bridges, but I suspect I did not always ask questions specific enough to enable their search engines to identify all such structures. I also failed to trace anybody connected with the pictures from British Bridges.
Owners and staff at various properties and organisations with historic or interesting bridges who went to a lot of trouble to provide information or photos include: Stuart Adolph (Heveningham Hall), Jeremy Ashbee (Eltham Palace), Paul Baker (Biddulph Grange Garden), Susan Ballance (Abercamlais), Andrew Barber (Clumber Park), Bill Barker and Frances O’Neill (Fountains Abbey), Justin Bodell (Groombridge Place), Jane Bodenham (Painshill Park), Bill Bryce (Quoich Dam, Scottish Hydro Electric), Jim Clune (Second Severn Crossing), Fr Anselm Cramer OSB (Ampleforth Monastery), David Crease and Sir Charles Legard Bt (Scampston Park), Jon Culverhouse (Burghley House), Sir Edward Dashwood Bt (West Wycombe Park), Amy Forster (Croome Park), Nic Fulcher (Leeds Castle), John Giffard (Chillington Hall), Alden Gregory and Kent Rawlinson (Hampton Court Palace), Dave Gibbons (Arlington Court), Kate Harris (Longleat), Michael Harrison (Wotton Park), Tracey Hart, Joe Hawkins and Joyce Purnell (Hagley Park), Jill Holman (Waltham Abbey), Peter Hughes (Madresfield Court), Alison Jinks (Warwick Castle), Gillian Johnston (Framlingham Castle), Simon Lowe (Risping Cleuch Viaduct), Mairi Macdonald and Jo Wong (Stoneleigh Abbey), Topher Martin (Syon Park), Amanda O’Reilly and Sam Youd (Tatton Park), Shaun Parker (Beam Aqueduct), Helen Poole (Michelham Priory), Ricky Pound (Chiswick House), Glyn Powell-Evans (Great Tangley Manor), Alan Power (Stourhead), Lady Saye and Sele (Broughton Castle), Allison Sharpe (Kenwood), Diana Shaw (Blickling Hall), Jo Shuttleworth (Grove House, Roehampton University), Rachel Smith and Kate Sparks (Baddesley Clinton), Stephen Thorode (Polesden Lacey), Rick Turner and Kaye Moxon (Castell Coch), Gareth Williams (Weston Park), William Worsley (Hovingham Park), Baron Dolf Sweerts de Landas Wyborgh (Dunsborough Park) and Richard Young (Great Fosters)
For the more recent bridges, many of which have not yet been covered in general publications, I am grateful to the following staff at the bridge-designing consultancies who helped me with information: Cezary M Bednarski (Kent Messenger Bridge), Sheena Cruse of Ahrends, Burton and Koralek (Poplar Station Footbridge), Simon Bourne of Benaim (Doncaster North Bridge and East Moors, River Dee and West of Heathway Viaducts), Charles Blackett-Ord (Stenkrith Millennium Bridge), Louise Gaiger and Elspeth Wales of Buro Happold (Greenside Place Bridge in Edinburgh, Kew’s Sadler Crossing and the Arsenal Emirates Stadium Footbridges), David Tarrant and Robin Thorpe of Gifford (Celtic Gateway and Flintshire Bridges), Jonathan Chapman and Dave Herbstritt of Mouchel Parkman (Middlewood Way Bridge), Julian Smith of Sarum Hardwood Structures (Gateshead Gasworks Bridge), Ali Karbassi and Richard Worrow of Waterman (Bristol Cabot Circus Footbridge), and Elizabeth Haarala of Whitbybird (Merchants Bridge, Manchester and Millennium bridges at Peterborough and York). Jennifer Steggles of the Highways Agency provided information about Vierendeel footbridges over the M3. Information about other modern bridges came from Stuart Innes (London Docklands) and Natasha Mickle (Paddington Waterside).
Thanks are due, too, to the publishers for permission to use some material from my earlier bridge books Discover Dorset Bridges (The Dovecote Press) and Spanning the River: Artists’ Views of Thames Bridges (Guildhall Art Gallery). I am also very grateful to Peter Cross-Rudkin for allowing me to use some of his numerous bridge photographs. In addition, Peter generously offered to read the final text of the first edition to help eliminate the more obvious errors and in doing so suggested many new points of interest. I must thank as well those (mostly unknown) people who kindly allowed access onto their private property for photographing bridges that cannot otherwise be easily seen, including Lady Gilbertson (Greta Bridge), Tom Shrager (Pleshey Castle Bridge) and Brian Walker (Milford Mill Bridge), and other enthusiasts who have given information, including Robert Charlton (Linnels Bridge), Tony Johns (Hampton Lucy Bridge), Ioan Thomas (Oundle bridges) and Geoffrey Thornton (Grosvenor Railway and M2 Medway Bridges).
Finally, I must record the help and encouragement I have received from family and friends. My children Sean, Lucy and James and brother Neil have been with me on many bridge-hunting and photographic expeditions, as have friends Tony Bayliss, Peter Chatt, Sieglinde Chorlton, Gill Coombs, Les Nuttall, and David and Jo Parsons. Peter Chatt has also specially produced the labelled drawing of masonry bridge construction and allowed me to reproduce several of his bridge paintings and drawings. Norma Kent has advised me about chinoiserie and Mike Fox helped me on some computer issues and provided photos. Other friends — John Ainley, Malcolm Dougall, Alan Fisher, Allie Gallop, Rob Lloyd and Ray Paulson — have also provided many photographs, as have friends of friends Iain Douglas, Chris Markham, John Southwood and Edward Walliss. A list naming the source of each illustration, including those provided by these friends, or by people acknowledged earlier, follows.
I am most grateful for all the help acknowledged above but, despite this invaluable support, the responsibility for errors remains mine alone.
I must particularly thank Nick Baveystock, Director General and Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineeers, for writing the Foreword. I am proud to have been a full member of the Institution for more than fifty-six years.
Those who have provided most useful input for the second edition include Sam Ames (Hampstead Heath Bridges), David Arbuthnott, Keren Guthrie and Emma O’Shea (Hermitage Bridge), Simon Bailey and Nick Baldwin (Oxford University’s Bodleian Library and Parks Estates Services for High Bridge, Oxford), Lady Banham (Penberth), Peter Bassett, Heather Flack and Graham Luxford (Spring Grove Folly Bridge at Bewdley), Alison Bethell and David Reynolds (Bath Quays), Rachelle Bownes (Cardinal Place), David Burt (Salkeld Bridge), Fleur Douetil (Busbridge Lakes), Nick Downie (Repton Bridge, Stoke Park), Frances Hurdman (Walton Hall), Forbes Innes (Kildrummy Castle), Andrew Jones (Wentworth Woodhouse), Camilla Legh, Anthony O’Grady and Philippa Reed (Adlington Hall), Shân Legge-Bourke (Glanusk), Professor Adrian Long (Bouthray Bridge), Stephen McCaffrey and Karen Westcott (Northern Spire Bridge), John Mew (Braylsham Castle), Barbara Middlemass (Chateau Impney), Corinne Price (Swiss Garden Bridges), Giles Sturdy (reused stonework from South Bridge, Wareham at Trigon House), Debbie Taylor (Waterton Park Hotel), Lord and Lady Walpole (Mannington Hall), Caroline Wellon (Hawkstone Park), Malcolm Wiggin (Packington Hall) and the staff at Swinton Park Hotel (Quarry Gill Bridge). Damian Kulash has also provided additional information about British bridge coins and medals. As a result of a chance meeting at the ICE, Professor Dawn Bonfield was able to advise me that Waterloo Bridge has long been referred to colloquially as ‘The Ladies’ Bridge’. In particular, I must mention Brian Duguid who has suggested about 100 bridges to be added to the second edition and provided many details.
The diagrams in the book have been prepared by Will Adams and Mick Sanders of Priory Ash Publishing. Many of the illustrations are photographs taken specially by the author’s family, friends and others over a number of years. In addition, some older photographs are included as well as photographs that have been kindly supplied by a few bridge designers and by owners and staff at bridge sites. These sources are listed below, showing page number and position on the page of each image (L and R indicate left-hand or right-hand column, followed by T, M and B to indicate top, middle or bottom image if there is more than one in a column). The remaining illustrations are photographs by the author or are copied from his collection of old prints.
John Ainley: 25LB, 33LT, 36RT, 38R, 40L, 50R, 51RB, 53L, 58LB, 58RT, 66RB, 74RT, 75RB, 77RT, 79L, 82R, 96RB, 112RB,139RB, 152L, 151R, 157LT, 190RT, 202RB, 205LB, 207LT,207RB, 254RT, 255L, 285LT, 289R, 290LB, 301LT, 301RB,313L, 321LB, 156RB; Ian Anderson: 149R; Tony Bayliss: 52RT,128L, 238LB; Charles Blackett-Ord: 279RT; Bill Bryce: 245R; Robert Charlton: 184LT; Peter Chatt: 70R, 113LT, 153R, 167R, 327LB, 334L; Jim Clune (by kind permission of Severn River Crossing plc: 266LT; Peter Cross Rudkin: 37R, 87L, 29LT, 30L, 33RB, 37LT, 40RT, 45LT, 46LM, 49RB, 50L, 52LB, 56L, 62L,62RB, 67LT, 86LB, 86RB, 103L, 105RT, 107RB, 116LT, 129LB,131LT, 160L, 159RB, 168L, 169RB, 171R, 173RB, 177R, 181L,185RT, 187LT, 190RB, 194R, 199RT, 209RT, 210LB, 210LT,215RB, 217L, 222L, 226RT, 228RB, 251R, 257LB, 269RB, 270R,275L, 278LB, 278LT, 285LB, 293RB, 297L, 300R, 304R, 307RB,308RB, 309L, 312LB, 312RB; Darren Harbar Photography: 287L; Malcolm Dougall: 79RB, 107LB, 127RB, 139RT, 163LT, 162RB; Iain Douglas: 30R, 65R, 91R, 101LT, 153LT, 184LB; Duguid, Brian ©: 46LB, 57LT; Alan Fisher: 24RT, 24LB, 29RB, 149RT, 170LB, 291R, 304LB; Mike Fox: 92RB, 305R; Allie Gallop: 38L,82L, 300LT; John Giffard: 77LM, 77LB; Joe Hawkins: 141L; Peter Hughes: 196LB; © ICE Panel for Historical Engineering Works: 33LT, 37LB, 42L, 52LT, 57RB, 59LT, 59RB, 63R, 64RB, 74RB, 81LB, 89LB, 90LT, 92RT, 98L, 100LT, 100LB, 106LB,108RB, 111RB, 131RT, 147LB, 158R, 159L, 173RT, 175R, 180L,187RT, 193LT, 193LB, 207LB, 210R, 211L, 211R, 215LB, 218L,227RT, 231RT, 235R, 237LB, 239RT, 251L, 254RB, 255RB, 257LT, 266RT, 272LT, 261RT, 262LT, 277R, 278R, 290RT, 296L,301RT, 302R, 303R, 306RT, 310R, 311LB, 324R, 325LT, 327LB,328LB; Rob Lloyd: 23L, 24LT, 23R, 25LT, 41LB, 44LT, 46R,47LB, 49L, 54RT, 58RB, 60R, 61LB, 64LT, 66L, 66RT, 69R, 73L,83LT, 93RT, 93RB, 103RT, 107LT, 106RB, 106RT, 112LT, 112RT,113LB, 114L, 122R, 125L, 127LT, 129RT, 131 RB, 132LT, 137RB,156LB, 156RT, 160RT, 162RT, 170LT, 171L, 183L, 184RB, 185L,186RB, 186RB, 196RT, 204R, 206R, 208L, 214RT, 223L, 225L,228RT, 230L, 236RT, 237LT, 249LT, 252L, 267R, 262LB, 279LT,289L, 290LT, 299LB, 309LT, 309LB, 331RB, 332LT, 332LB; Prof A. Long: 55RB; J. Markham: 209LT; James McFetrich:219R, 263L, 39LB, 228L, 243L; Neil McFetrich: 31LT, 35RB,63L, 71L, 80L, 84L, 90RT, 95LT, 104R, 100R, 102R, 110RT, 113R,118R, 133RT, 143L, 143RT, 165L, 170RB, 182LB, 192L, 199RB,206LB, 247RT, 250L, 254LB, 265R, 266LB, 271L, 272R, 282LT,295R, 308L, 308RT, 316RB, 318LT, 322R, 334R; J. Mew: 58LT; Jo Parsons: 34RT, 88LB, 89LT, 109L, 153LB, 161RT, 174RT, 191L, 218RB, 234RT, 247LB, 253LT, 272LB, 273RT, 277LB,298RB, 299RT, 313RB, 55L, 64LB; Ray Paulson: 29LB, 35LB,36RB, 41LT, 43R, 54LT, 61LT, 60LB, 71R, 76L, 78LT, 78LB, 81R,83LB, 83RT, 83RB, 86LT, 86RT, 90RB, 94R, 101LB, 104L, 105L,108L, 115LT, 115LB, 115RB, 120RT, 124L, 123R, 127L, 128RB,132LB, 140L, 144L, 154RB, 168RB, 169L, 174LT, 174RB, 184RT, 200LB, 201LT, 205RB, 209LB, 209RB, 213RT, 213RB, 216L,215RT, 221L, 224LB, 233RT, 238RB, 243R, 256R, 271R, 261L,277LM, 286L, 299RB, 302LT, 302LB, 320LT, 327RT; Sarum Structures: Gasworks Road, 129RB; John Southwood: 143RB; The Happy Pontist ©: 101R, 132R, 134L, 193RT, 198LB, 200R, 203RB, 216RT, 232RT, 236RB, 240R, 244RB, 253LB, 264RB,275RB, 259RT, 285RB; J. Walliss: 137LB; J. Wiggin: 229LT.
The illustrations on pages 24RB, 26RT, 31RT, 32RB, 35LT, 44LB, 47LT, 54LB, 59RT, 60LT, 69LT, 72R, 73R, 76R, 85L, 92L, 96RT, 99LT, 102L, 105RB, 107RM, 110LB, 116LB, 116RT, 117LT, 120L, 121L, 130RB, 131LB, 136R, 138LT, 155RB, 157LB, 161RB,163LB, 164LB, 168RT, 169RT, 170LM, 174LB, 180R, 182LT,185RB, 187LB, 197R, 202L, 205RT, 207RT, 213LB, 275RM, 214L, 217R, 275RT, 226L, 233L, 2324L, 239LB, 247RB, 254LT,256LT, 265LB, 273LT, 259L, 277LT, 280L, 261RB, 293L, 296RT, 296RB, 301LB, 303LT, 313RT, 316LT, 316RT, 317R, 320LB, 329RB are taken from the book British Bridges: An Illustrated Technical and Historical Record, edited jointly by S. M. Johnson and C. W. Scott-Giles and published by The Public Works, Roads & Transport Congress in 1933; they were all taken specially by the official photographers to the Congress, Messrs Hobbs, Offen & Co, then of 68 Victoria Street, London SW1.