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Black Bridge or Pump House Bridge, Gloucester


Heartland

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Isambard Kingdom Brunel was the engineer for two railway swing bridges across the River Severn at Gloucester, one was on the Docks Branch, the other was Black Bridge. Brunel had tried to build a conventional bridge across the Eastern Parting, but it was insisted that a a swing bridge was made in case the traffic warranted it. 

 

There was a central part to the bridge which caused issues with craft passing. The bridge was replaced by a modern single span structure in 1957.

 

It has been stated that the bridge was never moved, but there had to be times to test the bridge. Yet if no tall craft passed, may be there was not a case for the Great Western Railway to move it. The job of bridge keeper must have been boring, if that was the case!  

Black Bridge.png

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Given that the canal was well established by then the case for the Swng Brdige must have been legal rather than practical. Knowing the problems associated with seldom used railway swing bridges (I have in mind Barmouth, which was notorious for refusing to close again) I suspect the GWR would have done their best to avoid swinging it even for test purposes. 

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Could it have something to do with a right of access to the Hereford & Gloucester? Different routes could have been taken at different stages of the tide. Here is another railway bridge which is reputed, probably correctly, to only have swung once.

Thwaite bridge 047.jpg

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1 minute ago, Pluto said:

Could it have something to do with a right of access to the Hereford & Gloucester? Different routes could have been taken at different stages of the tide. Here is another railway bridge which is reputed, probably correctly, to only have swung once.

 

I guess it is possible the H&G demanded that masted vessels be able to reach Over, but Over Bridge is also on that route albeit possibly a bit higher. The H&G had a bit of a nerve if they did this, as one of their early attempts to reach Gloucester involved cutting across Alney Island and blocking the western channel with an embankment - they were told to take the embankment away not long afterwards, and the Alney Island Canal was short lived. 

5 minutes ago, Pluto said:

 

Thwaite bridge 047.jpg

 

That's one heck of a thing to swing!

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According to a biography of Brunel, the swing bridge was provided in case of the lower down bridge being replaced to allow larger traffic to pass. I gather there was a clause in the Gloucester & Forest of Dean Railway Act for both swing bridges.

 

I should point out that the G & FDR was a separate company to the South Wales Railway, but acted as the union railway between the South Wales Railway and the Cheltenham & Great Western Union Railway. All companies became part of the GWR and had Brunel as the common engineer.

 

Black Bridge was quoted in the biography as having two swings of 50 ft, So presumably it swung to the centre of the river on the central span. if so being 1851 preceded the Barton Swing Bridge by some years.

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4 hours ago, Heartland said:

Black Bridge was quoted in the biography as having two swings of 50 ft, So presumably it swung to the centre of the river on the central span. if so being 1851 preceded the Barton Swing Bridge by some years.

 

The Gloucester and Berkeley swing bridges were originally in two halves with a pivot on each bank.  The bridge keeper having to open one span, then row across to open the other.

 

Could this have been the case with the railway bridge too?

 

Edited to add:

 

Also referring to what @magpie patrick says about accessing the H&G canal at Over, remember that vessels with masts could have been working the Severn up to Tewkesbury and beyond too.

 

Edited by IanM
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13 minutes ago, IanM said:

 

The Gloucester and Berkeley swing bridges were originally in two halves with a pivot on each bank.  The bridge keeper having to open one span, then row across to open the other.

 

Could this have been the case with the railway bridge too?

 

Edited to add:

 

Also referring to what @magpie patrick says about accessing the H&G canal at Over, remember that vessels with masts could have been working the Severn up to Tewkesbury and beyond too.

 

I thought the boat crew did the other side

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11 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought the boat crew did the other side

 

I think it depends on what book you read.  Either way, they were in two halves with each requiring opening from different banks which is what I was thinking could be meant by the two 50ft swings.

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24 minutes ago, IanM said:

 

I think it depends on what book you read.  Either way, they were in two halves with each requiring opening from different banks which is what I was thinking could be meant by the two 50ft swings.

True. Like so much history

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If I take a section of the page of the book Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 1870

 

" Near Gloucester there are two skew swing bridges some what similar to each other in arrangement. Almost all the weight while turning is supported on the piston of a hydraulic press, and the bridge therefore turns round on the water in the cylinder. The first bridge is on the main line of railway leading to South Wales, across a branch of the River Severn, and is for two lines of way . It has three girders, 125 feet long, of the form shown in fig . 7 (p. 194) . The water pivot is in the middle of the length of the bridge, which spans two openings of 50 feet on the square. Before being turned the bridge was intended to be lifted slightly off its bearings by the hydraulic press, and steadied by four wheels, on which a portion of the weight was to be made to rest by long springs within the girders, the range of which was to be limited in one direction by a fixed stop. The central pier consists of five cylinders of cast iron, each 6 feet in diameter, filled with concrete, surmounted by a cast - iron ring or roller path . The railway company was obliged to make this an opening bridge in order to provide for the free navigation of the river should the old stone bridge lower down be altered. This has not been done, and the railway swing bridge, constructed in 1851, has not yet been opened"

 

The wording would seem to imply that the bridge was built to swing on the central pier and that hydraulics were used to move the bridge. The existence of a pumping station would perhaps be associated with this arrangement.

 

 

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Ok, we’ll that blows my theory out of the water. Would have been nice to know all the details last night 😄

 

If the bridge was replaced in the 50’s surely there must be some pictures of the original. 

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26 minutes ago, Heartland said:

If I take a section of the page of the book Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 1870

 

" Near Gloucester there are two skew swing bridges some what similar to each other in arrangement. Almost all the weight while turning is supported on the piston of a hydraulic press, and the bridge therefore turns round on the water in the cylinder. The first bridge is on the main line of railway leading to South Wales, across a branch of the River Severn, and is for two lines of way . It has three girders, 125 feet long, of the form shown in fig . 7 (p. 194) . The water pivot is in the middle of the length of the bridge, which spans two openings of 50 feet on the square. Before being turned the bridge was intended to be lifted slightly off its bearings by the hydraulic press, and steadied by four wheels, on which a portion of the weight was to be made to rest by long springs within the girders, the range of which was to be limited in one direction by a fixed stop. The central pier consists of five cylinders of cast iron, each 6 feet in diameter, filled with concrete, surmounted by a cast - iron ring or roller path . The railway company was obliged to make this an opening bridge in order to provide for the free navigation of the river should the old stone bridge lower down be altered. This has not been done, and the railway swing bridge, constructed in 1851, has not yet been opened"

 

The wording would seem to imply that the bridge was built to swing on the central pier and that hydraulics were used to move the bridge. The existence of a pumping station would perhaps be associated with this arrangement.

 

 

Would that be the railway bridge by any chance, the same as the one that is still there closer to the end 

And this one at the end so covering the two bridges mentioned PJV3312-Gloucester-&-S.-S.-C.-Rly.-swing-bridge-Sharpness-docks-branch.-03.06..jpg

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The Severn Bridge that carried a railway from Sharpness is not the same and that in that particular case was damaged when hit by oil tankers.

 

With the Black Bridge I had looked on Britain from Above and came up with this 1932 image where bridge is show bottom left of the image. It would be nice to know if other images exist.

 

The question that still remains is how original was Brunels design?

 

  

508810.png

Looking at the other bridge, I believe it is still there. That was a single span of 50 and carried the Dock Branch over the Eastern Parting.

 

There is a useful image from Britain from Above 

 

508812.png

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3 hours ago, Heartland said:

The Severn Bridge that carried a railway from Sharpness is not the same and that in that particular case was damaged when hit by oil tankers.

 

 

 

Looking at the other bridge, I believe it is still there. That was a single span of 50 and carried the Dock Branch over the Eastern Parting.

 

 

And I think its hand cranked

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7 hours ago, Heartland said:

Looking at the other bridge, I believe it is still there. That was a single span of 50 and carried the Dock Branch over the Eastern Parting.

 

There is a useful image from Britain from Above 

 

508812.png

 

which also shows Llanthony Lock No 6

Edited by StephenA
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18 hours ago, Heartland said:

If I take a section of the page of the book Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 1870

 

" Near Gloucester there are two skew swing bridges some what similar to each other in arrangement. Almost all the weight while turning is supported on the piston of a hydraulic press, and the bridge therefore turns round on the water in the cylinder. The first bridge is on the main line of railway leading to South Wales, across a branch of the River Severn, and is for two lines of way . It has three girders, 125 feet long, of the form shown in fig . 7 (p. 194) . The water pivot is in the middle of the length of the bridge, which spans two openings of 50 feet on the square. Before being turned the bridge was intended to be lifted slightly off its bearings by the hydraulic press, and steadied by four wheels, on which a portion of the weight was to be made to rest by long springs within the girders, the range of which was to be limited in one direction by a fixed stop. The central pier consists of five cylinders of cast iron, each 6 feet in diameter, filled with concrete, surmounted by a cast - iron ring or roller path . The railway company was obliged to make this an opening bridge in order to provide for the free navigation of the river should the old stone bridge lower down be altered. This has not been done, and the railway swing bridge, constructed in 1851, has not yet been opened"

 

The wording would seem to imply that the bridge was built to swing on the central pier and that hydraulics were used to move the bridge. The existence of a pumping station would perhaps be associated with this arrangement.

 

 

 

Intriguing that they were required to build a swing bridge in case another bridge was ever altered - I doubt you'd get that through a planning inquiry now, unless there was a clear plan to alter the other bridge

15 hours ago, Heartland said:

 

 

508812.png

 

That's an intruguing picture, not least as it shows the lock round Llanthony weir apparently in working order

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Interesting to see what look like a wide range of allotments in both those two images. Not just on the 'works' side of the river, but along the railway embankment. Such allotments were quite commonplace along railway embankments in the fifties.

Edited by Derek R.
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41 minutes ago, Heartland said:

Yes Llanthony Lock and Lock House is shown on that image and also on this one.

 

 

508811.png

 

You know what, the current getting into Gloucester Lock is scary enough, I'm really not sure I fancy belting down the Severn into that one with any fresh behind me

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Gloucester Archives has a collection of images regarding Black Bridge taken before and after re-construction according to their website. There is also a reference that the machinery for swinging the bridge was never fitted. This is a questionable statement as the Pump House existed.

 

The Docks and Inland Waterways financed improvements of the Eastern Parting, widening the channel north of Black Bridge and south of Westgate Bridge (1948-1953), 

 

Such work presumably influence the replacement of Black Bridge so that a wider channel was available for traffic along the Severn

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38 minutes ago, Heartland said:

Gloucester Archives has a collection of images regarding Black Bridge taken before and after re-construction according to their website. There is also a reference that the machinery for swinging the bridge was never fitted. This is a questionable statement as the Pump House existed.

 

The Docks and Inland Waterways financed improvements of the Eastern Parting, widening the channel north of Black Bridge and south of Westgate Bridge (1948-1953), 

 

Such work presumably influence the replacement of Black Bridge so that a wider channel was available for traffic along the Severn

 

I think traffic to the lower parting had ceased by then though - 1920's? My guess would be that any channel improvements downstream of Gloucester lock would have more to do with flood conveyance than navigation, especially if improvements upstream of the lock increased the rate of conveyance (as an inevitable by product rather than by intention) there

 

Edited to add - looking more closely at the arial photograph I think the lock has a bottom gate missing, so there was either no passage or passage only on a level of the tide even when that photo was taken

Edited by magpie patrick
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3 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

 

I think traffic to the lower parting had ceased by then though - 1920's? My guess would be that any channel improvements downstream of Gloucester lock would have more to do with flood conveyance than navigation, especially if improvements upstream of the lock increased the rate of conveyance (as an inevitable by product rather than by intention) there

 

Edited to add - looking more closely at the arial photograph I think the lock has a bottom gate missing, so there was either no passage or passage only on a level of the tide even when that photo was taken

 

The lock closed in 1924 as its walls were bulging out of shape...

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