Hereford Road Skew Bridge
Encyclopedia
Hereford Road Skew Bridge is a disused railway bridge in Ledbury
, Herefordshire. Built in 1881 to carry the Ledbury and Gloucester Railway
across the Hereford
Road at an angle of approximately 45°, it was built as a ribbed skew arch with stone spandrel
s and wing wall
s, and ribs of blue brick
.
The railway line was closed in 1959 and the bridge is now used as part of the Ledbury Town Trail footpath.
opened in two phases in 1798 and 1845, but in 1863, after a period of financial difficulty, it was leased to the Great Western Railway
and in 1881 work started on converting the southern section into a railway.
The Ross and Ledbury Railway Company's intention was to build a line between Ledbury and Ross-on-Wye
via Dymock
, where the Newent Railway Company planned a junction and a line that would link to the Great Western Railway at Over Junction, west of Gloucester
. Both companies received Parliamentary approval in 1873, but due to financial difficulties building was delayed for two years, by which time the Ross and Ledbury Railway had abandoned its plan to reach Ross and linked with the Newent Railway head-on to provide a through route from Ledbury to Gloucester.
The line opened to traffic on 27 July 1885, when the existing Ledbury station
was renamed Ledbury Junction, the Ledbury and Gloucester line curving away from the Worcester and Hereford Railway line on an embankment
immediately west of the station.
Just south of the junction the double-track line was carried at an awkward angle of approximately 45° over the Hereford Road, now part of the A438, by an arch bridge of "unusual design".
The two smaller companies were amalgamated into the Great Western Railway in 1892, and on 4 January 1917 the double track
between Ledbury and Dymock was singled
to provide materials for the Great War
. The line closed to passenger traffic on 11 July 1959, with the section between Ledbury and Dymock closing completely and Ledbury Junction station reverting to its old name, while the southern section remained open to freight traffic until 30 May 1964. Many bridges along the closed line were dismantled and in some cases just the abutments remain, but Hereford Road bridge remains intact and is currently in use as part of the Ledbury Town Trail footpath, with a nearby information board making the following extravagant claim:
The skew canal bridge to which reference is made is still in place at Monkhide, carrying a minor road over one of the few remaining stretches of the old canal.
However, now that the railway has been dismantled the canal has become the subject of an active and ambitious restoration scheme.
s, parapet walls, spandrels and wing walls but to accommodate the skew it was built with 13 separate staggered but overlapping ribs in blue brick.
Photographs show that each rib forms a separate segmental right arch equal in width to three stretcher bricks (each nominally 9 inches (228.6 mm) long), and offset from each of its neighbours by the width of six header bricks (each nominally 4½ inches (115 mm) wide), thus providing as a whole for a skew angle of approximately 45°. This method of construction was first proposed by British-born American architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1802 and later championed by French civil engineer A. Boucher, and has the advantage of being one of the simpler ways of building a skew arch, but set against that it has received considerable criticism for being "weak, ugly and wasteful of materials".
The bridge is relatively unadorned and devoid of fussy detail. The smooth blue brick ribs contrast with the rusticated
pink sandstone
and the east parapet wall carries a plain date stone to mark 1881 as the year of construction.
Ledbury
Ledbury is a town in Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and south of the Malvern Hills.Today, Ledbury is a thriving market town in rural England. The town has a large number of timber framed buildings, in particular along Church Lane and High Street. One of Ledbury's most outstanding...
, Herefordshire. Built in 1881 to carry the Ledbury and Gloucester Railway
Ledbury and Gloucester Railway
The Ledbury and Gloucester Railway , was a railway line in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, England, running between Ledbury and Gloucester. It opened in 1885 and closed in 1964.-History:...
across the Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
Road at an angle of approximately 45°, it was built as a ribbed skew arch with stone spandrel
Spandrel
A spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....
s and wing wall
Wing wall
A wing wall is a smaller wall attached or next to a larger wall or structure.-Bridges:In a bridge, the wing walls are adjacent to the abutments and act as retaining walls.They are generally constructed of the same material as those of abutments...
s, and ribs of blue brick
Staffordshire blue brick
Staffordshire blue brick is a strong type of construction brick, originally made in Staffordshire, England.The brick is made from the local red clay, Etruria marl, which when fired at a high temperature in a low-oxygen reducing atmosphere takes on a deep blue colour and attains a very hard,...
.
The railway line was closed in 1959 and the bridge is now used as part of the Ledbury Town Trail footpath.
History
The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire CanalHerefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal
The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal is a canal in the west of England, which ran from Hereford, the county town of Herefordshire to Gloucester the county town of Gloucestershire, where it linked to the River Severn...
opened in two phases in 1798 and 1845, but in 1863, after a period of financial difficulty, it was leased to the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
and in 1881 work started on converting the southern section into a railway.
The Ross and Ledbury Railway Company's intention was to build a line between Ledbury and Ross-on-Wye
Ross-on-Wye
Ross-on-Wye is a small market town with a population of 10,089 in southeastern Herefordshire, England, located on the River Wye, and on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean.-History:...
via Dymock
Dymock
Dymock is a small village in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England about four miles south of Ledbury, with a population of approx. 300 people....
, where the Newent Railway Company planned a junction and a line that would link to the Great Western Railway at Over Junction, west of Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
. Both companies received Parliamentary approval in 1873, but due to financial difficulties building was delayed for two years, by which time the Ross and Ledbury Railway had abandoned its plan to reach Ross and linked with the Newent Railway head-on to provide a through route from Ledbury to Gloucester.
The line opened to traffic on 27 July 1885, when the existing Ledbury station
Ledbury railway station
Ledbury station is a small railway station on the outskirts of the town of Ledbury on the Worcester to Hereford line in the English Midlands. It also has services to Birmingham as well as Cotswold Line trains to London....
was renamed Ledbury Junction, the Ledbury and Gloucester line curving away from the Worcester and Hereford Railway line on an embankment
Embankment (transportation)
To keep a road or railway line straight or flat, and where the comparative cost or practicality of alternate solutions is prohibitive, the land over which the road or rail line will travel is built up to form an embankment. An embankment is therefore in some sense the opposite of a cutting, and...
immediately west of the station.
Just south of the junction the double-track line was carried at an awkward angle of approximately 45° over the Hereford Road, now part of the A438, by an arch bridge of "unusual design".
The two smaller companies were amalgamated into the Great Western Railway in 1892, and on 4 January 1917 the double track
Double track
A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...
between Ledbury and Dymock was singled
Single track (rail)
A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....
to provide materials for the Great War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The line closed to passenger traffic on 11 July 1959, with the section between Ledbury and Dymock closing completely and Ledbury Junction station reverting to its old name, while the southern section remained open to freight traffic until 30 May 1964. Many bridges along the closed line were dismantled and in some cases just the abutments remain, but Hereford Road bridge remains intact and is currently in use as part of the Ledbury Town Trail footpath, with a nearby information board making the following extravagant claim:
The skew canal bridge to which reference is made is still in place at Monkhide, carrying a minor road over one of the few remaining stretches of the old canal.
However, now that the railway has been dismantled the canal has become the subject of an active and ambitious restoration scheme.
Design and architecture
The oblique bridge was built in 1881 and constructed with stone abutmentAbutment
An abutment is, generally, the point where two structures or objects meet. This word comes from the verb abut, which means adjoin or having common boundary. An abutment is an engineering term that describes a structure located at the ends of a bridge, where the bridge slab adjoins the approaching...
s, parapet walls, spandrels and wing walls but to accommodate the skew it was built with 13 separate staggered but overlapping ribs in blue brick.
Photographs show that each rib forms a separate segmental right arch equal in width to three stretcher bricks (each nominally 9 inches (228.6 mm) long), and offset from each of its neighbours by the width of six header bricks (each nominally 4½ inches (115 mm) wide), thus providing as a whole for a skew angle of approximately 45°. This method of construction was first proposed by British-born American architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1802 and later championed by French civil engineer A. Boucher, and has the advantage of being one of the simpler ways of building a skew arch, but set against that it has received considerable criticism for being "weak, ugly and wasteful of materials".
The bridge is relatively unadorned and devoid of fussy detail. The smooth blue brick ribs contrast with the rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
pink sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and the east parapet wall carries a plain date stone to mark 1881 as the year of construction.
Gallery
See also
- Southdown Road Skew BridgeSouthdown Road Skew BridgeSouthdown Road Skew Bridge is a ribbed skew arch railway bridge, which carries the Midland Main Line across Southdown Road in Harpenden, Hertfordshire...
– a brick ribbed skew arch of even greater obliquity. - Skew archSkew archA skew arch is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its plan view being a parallelogram, rather than the rectangle that is the plan view of...
– a discussion of ribbed and other forms of skew bridge.