HFF 22 Sep 23

Happy Fence Friday, All

Rewley Road Swing Bridge, Oxford.

There follows an extract from the Oxford Preservation Trust -
www.oxfordpreservation.org.uk/content/rewley-road-railway-swing-bridge

"The LMS Swing Bridge is one of only two moving bridges on the River Thames - the other being Tower Bridge in London. This ingenious mechanical structure dates from 1851 and was essential in keeping 19th-century Oxford moving.

This Scheduled Monument has a big story to tell, and one that is easy to overlook at first glance. This is a tale not just of the railways coming to Oxford, but of the part Oxford played in railways across England - of Robert Stephenson and Isambard Brunel, the battle for east-west and north-south, and of the ‘Great Exhibition’ of 1851.

The railwaymen could swing open the bridge with a hand crank to let the boats pass or swing closed to let the trains across. The bridge is 22 metres long and weighs 85 tons. It took two men around 5 minutes to wind it open."

I think the bridge has pretty much been restored but maybe the surrounding area is to be landscaped. Anyway, it looked to me like the bridge can never be fully used again because there are a number of buildings close to the bridge that must have been built after the bridge fell into disrepair. If so, that's quite sad!

I will have to research this story some more, methinks :-)

Added to Sight and Sound : Pictures & Music

♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ Listen here ~ Water Under the Bridge - Olivia Newton John