WB #11 - Then and Now - Trent Bridge
Photo shows old bridge with new bridge. Trent Bridge is Nottingham’s main entrance across the River Trent from the south.
The current bridge is the fourth on the site since C10th. Its three main spans of 100ft use cast iron arches braced with wrought iron girders to support the roadway. The first bridge on the site had stone piers and timber beams. It was built soon after 920. The second was begun in 1156 and had more than 20 stone arches and a chapel at one end. The northern half was swept away by a flood in 1683. The third bridge had 15 pointed arches, a causeway at the southern end and two further flood arches. By 1867, however, the foundations had been seriously scoured by the river and a replacement was begun just downstream. Coffer dams to construct the foundations were used-- the river bed was excavated about 5ft to sandstone. The cast iron arches have eight ribs each and the face ribs are moulded and cast integrally with the spandrels. The parapets are open ironwork and, as built, the bridge was 40ft wide. The river piers are made of ashlar stone faced with Aberdeen granite columns. The ashlar abutments are massive. Outside them are flood or footway arches, one on the north side, two on the south.On completion of the new, the old bridge was demolished except for the two flood arches, which can now be seen in a traffic island. Trent Bridge was widened to 80ft in 1924-6. The work was carried out on the downstream side -- the face stonework and iron ribs were re-erected as before but in new positions. Reinforcd concrete ribs were inserted between the iron ones for strength.
All photos taken on the frozen Trent Bridge taken from various angles.
Looking across the frozen river towards the "Town Arms Hotel" - which has had several names over my lifetime - Town Arms became The Aviary, Casa (until 2007) and The Riverbank (from 2010 until this year) and now Brewhouse and Kitchen. It also shows Trent Bridge pumping station and Turneys leather factory. The last freeze of the Trent occurred in Jan 1895. For 10 days the river was frozen and safe for skaters, and a hockey match was held between Newark and Burton-on-Trent, near to Averham Weirs. This photograph show people skating and walking on the ice and although they appear perfectly at ease, several fatalities due to thin ice were reported on the river. A bridge has existed at or around the current location since 924 during the reign of Edward the Elder when an oak superstructure was supported by stone piers - with evidence that the site also had a ferry during occupation by the Danes. In 1156, in the reign of Henry II came a stone, gothic arch style bridge, with 17 arch spans in total. This structure remained for a considerable period with reconstruction works dated at 1275 and 1374. The structure sustained considerable damage during the Cromwellian wars, with a great flood further adding to the damage. The bridge as it appears today was constructed over a three-year period between 1868 and 1871, for the price of £36,000. The architect of the new bridge was M O Tarbotton, with ornamental metalwork by Andrew Handyside of Derby. Construction took place alongside the existing bridge, until the completion of the new bridge allowed the older structure to be demolished. Two of the approach spans to the older bridge still remain, next to the road outside County Hall. The bridge was then widened (1924 - 1925) on the upstream (south-west) side to allow the six-lane capacity that exists today. The large building on the left is the Corporation waterworks pumping station. The new Trent Waterworks Company opened its works next to the present "Brewhouse and Kitchen" at Trent Bridge in 1831 (The gothic roof of the Town Arms can be seen next to it). This remarkable system, the first in the country to provide a supply at constant high pressure so preventing contamination from entering the mains, was constructed under supervision of its designer, the Company Engineer, Thomas Hawksley, then 25 years old. Water flowed through brick filter tunnels laid in the gravel beds on the north side of the river into a reservoir adjoining the pumping station. From there it was pumped by a 40 HP rotative beam engine to a new reservoir built on the corner of Park Row and the Ropewalk. Parts of this 15 inch cast-iron water main between the pumping station and the reservoir remain in service today, although the pumping station itself no longer exists (demolished c 1900).
Entrance to Trent Bridge from West Bridgford
first picture without new Inn c1880 -2nd photo c1890 showing boths inns 1908
Various photos showing Trent Bridge
Road widening 1926 - where they labelled each brick they took down with a number so they knew where to replace it - Nottingham Local Library holds these photos.
