Midland Bridge (Bath)
This utilitarian steel bridge was constructed by Andrew Handyside and Co of Derby and opened in 1905, replacing an earlier wrought iron bridge.
Despite its name and appearance, it is and has always been a road bridge, carrying the Midland Bridge Road (B3118) across the River Avon in the centre of Bath. The original bridge was built c.1870 to provide access from the south side of the river to the Midland Railway's new Bath Green Park. 100 yds to the north is the former railway bridge which took the Midland Railway and Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway lines into the station. This is now a road bridge.
Midland Bridge underwent costly refurbishment in 2015.
The c.1870 bridge was sold in 1905 and re-erected further downstream to serve a refuse destructor, acquiring the name Destructor Bridge. This was demolished in 2016 and replaced by a nicely-finished, wider, stronger bridge[1]. The old bridge was of wrought iron lattice girder construction. Its admittedly limited eye-appeal was enhanced by the addition of some ornate iron castings at the end of each girder. It is hoped that these castings have been preserved.
1905 'THE MIDLAND BRIDGE - PROBABLE DATE OF OPENING.
On Sunday the new Midland Bridge, which has been bolted together for some time past, was moved into line with the approaches. It had been resting on a timber framework to the right the old structure, and during the demolition of the latter a temporary wooden bridge between the old and new was used for the traffic over the river. The parapets and decking of this deputy structure were taken away on Saturday night to enable the new bridge being drawn into its proper position, all the old bridge having been cleared away except the two booms which were run together and only occupied a small space on the Green Park side of the new erection. The work of moving the bridge was very smoothly accomplished. It rested on powerfully built timber carriages which moved along rails laid on bearings on either bank. The motive power was a crab winch, worked by hand, which was connected to the carriages by steel cable. At 6.30 a.m. on Sunday the huge structure weighing 500 tons was started the way to its correct position, and in two hours it was there. But there remains the task of lowering it on to its abutments, a distance of five feet. This is a delicate operation, requiring the greatest care to avoid straining, and will be done by removing the timbers at each corner as the bridge gently is raised by hydraulic jacks. On Monday the decking and sides of the temporary bridge were replaced, and this will again be used for traffic until the new bridge is ready. This will most probably be in fortnight's time. The contractors expect have the bridge resting upon its abutments by the 30th October, and then the Corporation, in conjunction with the Electric Tramway Company, will have their part to do. The metal bed of the bridge will be covered with a slight coating of concrete get a level surface, and on this the wood blocks will be laid. A look at the new structure as it now rests on its timber supports shows the line of the tramrails, for to receive these a double row wooden sleepers have been fixed to the bridge. The making up of the approach roads and the laying of the tram lines will proceed simultaneously, and it is hoped to do this in a week. The two booms of the old bridge will not taken down until its successor has been lowered. They will then be unbolted, taken ashore in sections and shipped in barges, to be taken down the river to the site selected for re-erection — between the destructor works and the Twerton ash-heap. Large numbers of people visited the locality of the bridge on Sunday and derived what satisfaction they could from gazing at its substantial appearance. The actual moving was done too early in the day to be watched by many. It was superintended by Mr. W. Stuart, the representative of the contractors (Messrs. Handyside and Co., Derby), who has had charge of the building and placing of the bridge.'[2]