Primrose Street Railway Bridge
in the City of London and Shoreditch
1873 Constructed for the Great Eastern Railway at Bishopsgate Street Railway Station
1874 'THE GREAT EASTERN METROPOLITAN EXTENSION RAILWAY.
OPENING OF THE LINE TO LIVERPOOL STREET. The Great Eastern Metropolitan Extension Railway, which has been in course of construction for upwards of three years past, was opened on Monday last to the main new terminal station at Liverpool-street; but for the present, and until the building of the large new station is completed, the suburban traffic is the only part of the general traffic of the company which will be sent over this extension. The extension lines are carried to Walthamstow, and the portions of the lines between that point and Norton Folgate, where the new low-level Bishopsgate station is situated, have already been for some months opened for traffic. From Norton Folgate, in the direction of Bethnal-green, the line passes between deep retaining walls for a considerable distance, crossing in its progress under Commercial-street, by a cast-iron segmental skewed bridge. The completing portion of the extension line is a little more than half a mile in length, which passes entirely through a deep open cutting, until it enters the enormous station area of nine acres in extent.
From the low-level Bishopsgate station the line passes under Bishopsgate-street, and thence under Worship-street by two archways on the skew, with two lines of rails laid in each. .... Shortly after emerging from the open cutting, the line passes under a stupendous iron girder bridge, carried across the railway at a considerable elevation, and carrying Primrose-street. This bridge, the building of which is now approaching completion, is undoubtedly one of of the most striking engineering features connected with the works. This an immense single-span girder, 190 ft. in length, supported and tied together by massive and lofty box girders rising to a height of 14 ft. above the roadway, forming an unusually high parapet on each side, and closely resembling the sides of the London, Chatham, and Dover Company's bridge from Ludgate-hill to Blackfriars. On the main cross-girders of the bridge supporting the roadway are laid a series of iron arches, six of these arches extending across the carriage-way, and one on each side about 1 ft. higher than the last-named for the footway. Over these iron arches a bed of concrete about 1 ft. in depth has been laid, and upon this, wood pavement is to be laid down for the carriageway, and asphalte pavement for the footpaths. .... Immediately under the bridge a large signal-house has been erected on the railway level, which contains 100 levers. Proceeding in the direction of Liverpool-street, Skinner-street is carried over the line by another iron bridge, supported at each end by massive brick pillars, and in the centre by three iron columns resting upon a stone basement. Both bridges are constructed the full width of the other portions of the two streets. The whole of the station area will be covered in from the last-named bridge to Liverpool-street, the entire length of the, station from Skinner-street to Liverpool-street being upwards of 1,000 ft., with an average width of 290 ft. ; thus occupying a superficial area of about 32,000 square yards.'[1]
1896 Rebuilt
This was one of three overbridges built to carry Worship Street, Primrose Street, and Skinner Street, across the numerous lines of track all converging on Liverpool Street Station. All three structures were on the skew, that at Worship Street forming an angle of 60deg. with the line of roadway. The bridges were rebuilt in 1895-6 when Liverpool Street Railway Station was enlarged, and the Horseley Co of Tipton were the contractors for the construction and erection of all the ironwork of the three bridges. John Mowlem and Co were responsible for the earthwork, brickwork, and foundations. [2]. These bridges, of somewhat unconventional construction, no longer exist in their original form. Worship Street Bridge was rebuilt, probably in the 1930s, and survives, its utilitarian structure providing a welcome contrast to its gleaming high rise neighbours. Skinner Street (now Pindar Street) and Primrose Street still cross the railway, but no longer over identifiable bridges, following the construction of Exchange House and Exchange Square. See here[3] for an interesting account of the changes which have taken place in this area.
1932 'DO YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS? PRIMROSE-STREET
A ancient City of London street has just been entirely rebuilt by a railway company. Not halfpenny has the City of London Corporation contributed to the cost. You may inquire (writes an Evening News correspondent) diligently at the Guildhall and fuzzle the whole team of Corporation officials if you ask them to name this curiosity among London’s thoroughfares. But, on the maps, Primrose-street is marked plainly enough. It lies to the northof Liverpool-street station and connects Bishopsgate with Appold-street.
It is about sixty yards long. Since March Primrose-street has been closed, but to-day vans and lorries are rumbling through it again.
Primrose-street consists entirely of a bridge.
Beneath it run all the main line and other trains that pull up at the west side platforms of Liverpool-street Station.
In the dim and remote past there were orchards and gardens where Liverpool-street Station now stands and ditches and marshes where, in April, primroses bloomed. And though there were no primrose paths when the old Great Eastern was extended from Bishopsgate to Liverpool-street in 1873, it was determined that Primrose-street should be kept alive.
So the iron bridge was built took rank as a public , and it has been the business of the London and North Eastern Railway Company to maintain it.
The original iron structure has just been replaced by a mew bridge of steel and concrete. It is supported on “rocker” bearings with roller bearings at one end to allow of the expansion of the metal in hot weather.
Night and day work on Primrose-street never ceased for nearly three months. In fact, the new bridge was inserted inside the old bridge and supported parts of it till it was demolished. Not for & minute was railway traffic interrupted. Nine hundred trains a day went in or out of the station even during the crisis of this delicate_engineering operation, involving the handling, with the aid of cranes, of girders over 180 ft. in length and masses of steel totalling 524 tons.
Somewhere in the middle of the bridge is the City boundary. Therefore, one end of Primrose-street is in the City of London and the other in Shoreditch.'[4]