Ness Islands Footbridges
This entry refers to two footbridges built c.1853 to the design of James Dredge, Senior. These have been replaced by austere steel bridges. Fortunately, one of the Dredge-designed bridges was saved in 1988 and re-erected at Whin Park, where it carries a miniature railway. A good set of photos is available online showing details of construction [1]. More photos, with a good account of the the principles of Dredge's design and details of construction, is available on the 'Happy Pontist' website [2]. These photos show that additional support has been provided beneath the bridge deck, in the form of welded beams and support columns.
The upper parts of the towers of these bridges were iron castings, much cheaper and quicker to erect than the masonry towers used on larger Dredge bridges, such as Victoria Bridge, Bath and the Oich Suspension Bridge.