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Where is this bridge?


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One of my colleagues, Tamarisk, has found this whilst researching the Stockport Branch of the Ashton Canal - it's on the Stockport Borough Council image archive website.

I'm pretty certain it's not in Stockport though - I have a few ideas, but I don't want to cloud anyone's thinking so I'll put it here and see what you think

Edited because of a record number of spelling mistakes for such a short post

where.jpg

Edited by magpie patrick
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1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

One of my colleagues, Tamarisk, has found this whilst researching the Stockport Branch of the Ashton Canal - it's on the Stockport Borough Council image archive website.

I'm pretty certain it's not in Stockport though - I have a few ideas, but I don't want to cloud anyone's thinking so I'll put it here and see what you think

Edited because of a record number of spelling mistakes for such a short post

where.jpg

 

The only canal that I am aware of that mark their bridges with a painted arch and an 'aiming' mark like that is the Leeds and Liverpool. However there maybe others I am not aware of. I don't think it's common though. Happy to be corrected 

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13 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

The only canal that I am aware of that mark their bridges with a painted arch and an 'aiming' mark like that is the Leeds and Liverpool. However there maybe others I am not aware of. I don't think it's common though. Happy to be corrected 

Didn't the G.U., or parts of it, do a similar thing to aid night navigation?

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4 minutes ago, Athy said:

Didn't the G.U., or parts of it, do a similar thing to aid night navigation?

 

Possibly, that is what it was for though. 

 

The style of that bridge does lend itself to being on the L&L, but I could be miles out.

 

 

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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Comparing the width of the towpath to the width of the channel would suggest this is a narrow canal, so not the L&L.

If it's on the Stockport archive then it's probably fairly local, if not the specific location claimed, which would suggest perhaps the Peak Forest, Ashton, or Hollinwood Branch.

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It's claimed to be Sandfold on the Stockport Branch - the problem with this is that the Stockport Branch didn't go particularly close to Sandfold and looking at the NLS website of late 19th century maps doesn't reveal a location that fits the picture. 

My thoughts had been L&L or Lancaster - a number of canals picked out their bridges in white but the L&L put a marker over the centre of the channel, I'm not sure others did. I agree with David Mack that the bridge looks narrow, and using Occams Razor it therefore probably is narrow so not the L&L

If it's a narrow canal I think the Macc far more likely

 

Edited to add- I'm not convinced by my own analysis though....

Edited by magpie patrick
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16 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Now I'm doubting myself as most of the images  of L&L bridges I have show them with a slightly 'peaked' appearance.

 

 

 

 

 Not all of them apparently - this is bridge 62, admittedly it was built by the Lancaster Canal Co as it's between Wigan and Johnsons Hillock

 

 

Bridge 62 L&L.jpg

Edited by magpie patrick
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26 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

 Not all of them apparently - this is bridge 62, admittedly it was built by the Lancaster Canal Co as it's between Wigan and Johnsons Hillock

 

 

Bridge 62 L&L.jpg

The Lancaster bridges were built to Rennie's design, and are different to those on the L&LC. Bridges on that canal vary, depending upon date, location, and contractor. The early Yorkshire bridges have a slightly curved coping and no base to the parapet. Later bridges, post 1790, tend to come to more of a point in the centre, with a definite course of stone showing the base of the parapet. Within these basic designs, the stone dressing varies depending upon the contractor. This is particularly so with post 1800 bridges, where the edge dressing and finish to the centre can be different for bridges adjacent to each other. The photos show West End and New Barn bridges between Church and Rishton. They are basically the same design, but the stonework is dressed differently.

New Barn 417.jpg

West End 415.jpg

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Looking at the image, there are similarities with the Leeds & Liverpool. There seems to be towpath access on the left hand side, always assuming that the image is the correct way round. Is there any idea as to source and why Bridge 62 is believed to be the one ?

 

 

 

 

Bridge1 .jpg

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3 minutes ago, Heartland said:

Is there any idea as to source and why Bridge 62 is believed to be the one ?

I picked Bridge 62 as being "in the same style" rather than a candidate for being the bridge in my original photo - however the setting is remarkably similar

I need to cruise the whole of the L&L sometime, just to satisfy my curiosity about that canal.

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As I said in my previous post, the style of bridge on the L&LC depends upon its date of construction. The first photo is of Dowley Gap bridge, one built circa 1770, with a rounded outline and no pediment for the parapet. The next is the change-line bridge at Priestholme, dating from circa 1790, with a pointed outline and a pediment for the parapet. The final one is New Hall, Burnley, dating from the circa 1800, with a rounded top and a pediment for the parapet. There is no such thing as a standard design for L&LC bridges as that changed over time. Unfortunately, the Stockport photo is not good enough quality to show if it is a L&LC bridge, and if so which type, and thus location.

Dowley Gap.jpg

Priestholme.jpg

_IGP5499.jpg

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That may be the case, but how many canal company adopted the mark above the bridge arch which one post has called an aiming mark of use to boatmen to line up their craft in the flying sheep weather that can occur in parts of the Pennines. For those that do not understand what that means, I often encountered such extremes when looking at the steam specials on the Settle & Carlisle Railway in the 1980's when there were plans to close the line.

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1 hour ago, Heartland said:

That may be the case, but how many canal company adopted the mark above the bridge arch which one post has called an aiming mark of use to boatmen to line up their craft in the flying sheep weather that can occur in parts of the Pennines. For those that do not understand what that means, I often encountered such extremes when looking at the steam specials on the Settle & Carlisle Railway in the 1980's when there were plans to close the line.

 

There is one bridge on the L&L with two of them. One very faded the other not so.

 

I'm not sure why they would change the position.

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A couple more L&LC bridges, this time at Halsall. Many of the bridges on this section were swing bridges when first opened in 1774, so they may have been built at different times. The Liverpool length was built by the Liverpool committee, while the Yorkshire section was by the Bradford committee, hence the different lock sizes and , perhaps, different bridges.

 

The white edge and channel centre marks were most likely first painted in the 1870s, when the canal company took over general cargo carrying and began running flyboats day and night. You just lined up the bow cabin chimney with the channel centre mark and the boat would go through without touching. I suspect that some new marks have been painted by well-meaning people who do not understand their use, and have been put on the centre line of the bridge, rather than of the channel.

Halsall 25.jpg

Halsall 315.jpg

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Well I've been right along the L&L on Pennine waterways and can I heck locate the bridge with the two different channel centre (or what I called 'aiming') marks.

 

Its not in any of my photos either but there is at least one such bridge.

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