The Warrington Transporter Bridge (or Bank Quay Transporter Bridge) is a structural steel transporter bridge across the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, Cheshire, England.

Design

It was designed by William Henry Hunter and built by Sir William Arrol & Co. The bridge has a span of , is wide, feet above high water level, with an overall length of feet and a total height of .Rennison, p. 267

History

It was constructed in 1915 and fell into disuse in approximately 1964. The bridge was constructed to connect the two parts of the large

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

and soap works of

Joseph Crosfield and Sons Joseph Crosfield (5 October 1792 – 16 February 1844) was a businessman who established a soap and chemical manufacturing business in Warrington, which was in the historic county of Lancashire and is now in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. ...

. It was originally designed to carry rail vehicles up to in weight, and was converted for road vehicles in 1940. In 1953, it was further modified to carry loads of up to . It was the second of two transporter bridges across the Mersey at Warrington. The first was erected in 1905 slightly to the north of the existing bridge and was later transformed into a pipeline bridge, before it was demolished. It is one of three remaining such bridges in the UK.

Regeneration

The bridge is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

, and because of its poor condition it is on the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

. The bridge is protected as a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. A local group called Friends of Warrington Transporter Bridge (FoWTB) was formed in April 2015 to act as the independent voice of the bridge. The group is liaising with other interest groups to safeguard the future of the bridge and its industrial heritage status. FoWTB has been featured on the local BBC News programme, '' North West Tonight'' and has set up a website for the bridge along with ''Facebook'' and ''Twitter'' pages. In 2016, the bridge was nominated for the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

North West Heritage Award.

References

;Bibliography * Rennison, R.W., ''"Civil Engineering Heritage : Northern England"'', Thomas Telford Publishing, 2nd edn., 1996, * Thompson, Dave, ''"Bridging the Years"'', MailBook Publishing, 2000

External links

Official website

Picture on geograph

"Bank Quay transporter bridge, Warrington – Warrington (UA)"
English Heritage,

* {{EHbarName, Warrington+Transporter Transporter bridges Bridges completed in 1915 Bridges in Cheshire Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire Grade II* listed bridges in England Scheduled monuments in Cheshire River Mersey Buildings and structures in Warrington Bridges across the River Mersey

Design

History

Regeneration

See also

References

External links