Bridges with windows!!!!!

[arnie_and_caroline]

can anyone tell us why some of the bridges we recently passed on the coventry have little window type things in them??????

 

we are thinking all kinds of things from a place to leave fresh supplies or tied up wenches for mates following on lol to places to hide ill gotten gains???????????????????????

[Sabs]

can anyone tell us why some of the bridges we recently passed on the coventry have little window type things in them??????

 

we are thinking all kinds of things from a place to leave fresh supplies or tied up wenches for mates following on lol to places to hide ill gotten gains???????????????????????

If they're at the side of of a bridge they are for storing stop planks. (Look out for the grooves in the bridge/towpath wall and facing). If they are on the top they are probably access points for the Fire Brigade!!!!

[Athy]

Yes, I remember reading that they were cut into the brickwork during World War 2 so that fire engines could stick their hoses through them and into the canal to replenish their tanks.

[arnie_and_caroline]

If they're at the side of of a bridge they are for storing stop planks. (Look out for the grooves in the bridge/towpath wall and facing). If they are on the top they are probably access points for the Fire Brigade!!!!

 

 

they were on the side sabs and thanx for that...... mystery solved.......... no point pulling in to search for wenches and the like now lol

[Keeping Up]

Yes, I remember reading that they were cut into the brickwork during World War 2 so that fire engines could stick their hoses through them and into the canal to replenish their tanks.

I have always understood that this was only done in Birmingham.

[Athy]

You could well be right; does any menber know?

[OldGoldy]

You could well be right; does any menber know?

From the BCNS website:-

 

"In the bridge wall you will see small locked red doors over the water, these are common on BCN bridges and are "Fire Doors". Keys to these doors are held by the Fire Brigade so that hoses can be lowered into the water with a snorkel end to pump out water to fight any fires in the area."

 

Can't recall if they are used in other urban areas.

[NB Phoenix]

From the BCNS website:-

 

"In the bridge wall you will see small locked red doors over the water, these are common on BCN bridges and are "Fire Doors". Keys to these doors are held by the Fire Brigade so that hoses can be lowered into the water with a snorkel end to pump out water to fight any fires in the area."

 

Can't recall if they are used in other urban areas.

 

 

Many other places as well. Coventry for example.

[luctor et emergo]

Many other places as well. Coventry for example.

 

Isn't that the same as Birmingham?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

** runs for cover.... **

[BuckbyLocks]

Isn't that the same as Birmingham?

 

It certainly wasn't THEN!

 

I think the use of fire doors was fairly nationwide, as was the narrowing of waterways to allow for stopgates as opposed to stop planks. The narrows and gates still exist in the Tindal Bridge bridgehole in Birmingham and the fire doors were replaced in the parapet, even though it is now a low bridge. Can't now remember if Saturday Bridge had them when that was replaced more recently.

 

There is also a stop gate narrows under the Bridge behind Kings Cross Station, near the London Canal Museum. The last bridge on the Arm into Coventry had firedoors and may have had a stop gate. Not narrowed specially, so is more difficult to see.

 

Must check one day and see if the padlocks used were universal or specific to a particular Local Authority.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

** runs for cover.... **

[romarni123]

They are not very big they have black metal grid type gates on them in the side of the bridge would you get planks in them?

[magpie patrick]

Buckby,

 

as you've hashed your quote I can't quote you. It was certainly not "nationwide" and only in Birmingham is the practice still standard. Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester and Bath are four cities that don't and never have. The original idea was that, with high parapets, the fire brigade couldn't tell where the canal was (it is still possible to cross a canal in Birmingham and not know it) and thus a red door indicated water the far side. It was thus imperative that any canal that closed had it's red doors removed and the site of old canals in Birmingham can still be traced with bricked up doors.

 

Birmingham still have them, even on modern bridges with railings and low parapets where the water can be seen. Other towns and cities used them, but not to the same extent as Birmingham does.

[alan_fincher]

They are not very big they have black metal grid type gates on them in the side of the bridge would you get planks in them?

 

Yes,

 

The ones that are built like tunnels into the bridges are definitely for storing stop planks.

 

These days most I have seen seem to be empty, though.

 

I must admit I thought the red door thing for fire hoses was particular to the BCN - I don't recall seeing them in Coventry, so I was clearly not paying attention!

[RLWP]

Streetview Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry

 

I've checked a few bridges in Cov, and it looks to me that they have had the doors at some time in the past, but they have all now been bricked up. Notice the lintel in this bridge

 

Richard

[romarni123]

Yes,

 

The ones that are built like tunnels into the bridges are definitely for storing stop planks.

 

These days most I have seen seem to be empty, though.

 

I must admit I thought the red door thing for fire hoses was particular to the BCN - I don't recall seeing them in Coventry, so I was clearly not paying attention!

I will have a look when i go home thursday there are quite a few on the cov near by atherstone

[Josher]

Seems the brigade are quite capable of obtaining water without the use of little red doors in bridges ...

 

BBC News Page last updated at 15:07 GMT, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 16:07 UK

 

Fire tears through Buckinghamshire wood company

 

A fire has torn through a large pile of wood chippings at a Buckinghamshire furniture company.

 

More than 40 firefighters were called to Wood Knot Waste in Court Lane, Iver, on Monday evening.

 

A fire service spokesman said an area of about 328,083 sq ft (100,000 sq m) of wood chippings was on fire.

 

Water to put out the flames was taken from the nearby canal and crews spent about 16 hours at the scene including damping down.

[RLWP]

What you have to remember is that the canals in Birmingham were private property, and that access to them was actually quite difficult. There would be no canal access at bridges and high walls on the bridges, so the doors were important if you wanted to get to the water with a fire hose

 

Richard

[alan_fincher]

I must admit I have never quite understood on the BCN why the firemen could not just hook their suction hoses over the additional 3 feet of wall above the fire doors.

 

In most cases they could easily have seen over, and made sure they were reaching the required canal.

 

Did it really make that much difference to add an extra 6 feet or so of hose, and go over the top, (as I've seen done other places, where no such doors exist....)

[RLWP]

What strange places they must be that make life difficult for firemen. See how public spirited the people of Birmingham are to make sure that firemen can deal with fires in properties without having to kink hoses over walls.

 

Richard

 

I'm still trying to find a picture of a BCN bridge as I remember them with high walls and perhaps advertising hoardings above that.

 

Like this: Streetview

Edited April 14, 2010 by RLWP

[alan_fincher]

I'm still trying to find a picture of a BCN bridge as I remember them with high walls and perhaps advertising hoardings above that.

 

Like this: Streetview

Yes,

 

Admittedly in some it would have been necessary.

 

However, other places it seems less so, (particularly if the water isn't actually directly beneath the trap door....)

 

[RLWP]

Birmingham bridge parapets are quite tall generally. This is Bath street with a convenient passer by to estimate the height against

 

Streetview

 

Richard

[magpie patrick]

I must admit I have never quite understood on the BCN why the firemen could not just hook their suction hoses over the additional 3 feet of wall above the fire doors.

 

In most cases they could easily have seen over, and made sure they were reaching the required canal.

 

Did it really make that much difference to add an extra 6 feet or so of hose, and go over the top, (as I've seen done other places, where no such doors exist....)

 

 

I think there were probably several elements to the logic, one being that Birmingham has a lot more canal bridges than most places, and in many instances you can't see where a canal is. This was even more true in 1940, as in recent years the canals have been more opened out.

 

Also, they are not all in bridges, somewhere near Hockley Port there is one in a canalside wall, as there is next to Worcester Bar from Gas Street. If you look a bit further along Gas Street, the site of a lost branch can be discerned by a hump in the footway and bricked up openings which once housed red doors. I think it was a matter of convenience, a bit like marking fire hydrants

 

I don't understand why they put them on modern bridges with railings that are only about four feet high, and suspect, in an emergency, the fire brigade wouldn't use them in these cases, as the time to open the door would offset any advantage.