The Iron Bridge, Culford Park
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The Iron Bridge is a grade I listed early cast iron bridge crossing a
tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of the
River Lark The River Lark crosses the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire in England. It is a tributary of the River Great Ouse, and was extended when that river was re-routed as part of drainage improvements. It is thought to have been used for nav ...
in the grounds of Culford Park in the village of
Culford Culford is a village and civil parish about north of Bury St Edmunds and north east of London in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. According to the 2011 Census the parish had a population of 578, a decrease from 620 recorded a ...
near
Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
,
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
. The bridge is of exceptional interest as one of the earliest bridges with an unmodified cast-iron structure to survive. Built for
Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis (19 October 1774 – 9 August 1823), styled Viscount Brome until 1805, was a British Tory politician. He served as Master of the Buckhounds between 1807 and 1823. Background Cornwallis was the only ...
, the owner of Culford Park in 1804, it is a unique example of a cast iron bridge built to the patent of
Samuel Wyatt Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737 – 8 February 1807) was an English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was primarily in a neoclassical style. C ...
. The rib castings feature oval tubular sections and are the earliest known example with hollow ribs, leading to the structure receiving a grade I listing on 15 May 1996. The woods to the Southwest of the bridge are known as Iron Bridge Carr.


Design

On 10 June 1800,
Samuel Wyatt Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737 – 8 February 1807) was an English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was primarily in a neoclassical style. C ...
patented a new design for ''...constructing bridges, warehouses, and other buildings without using wood...'' which was published in the Repertory of Arts and Manufactures: Vol.14 in 1801. The patent describes how to construct a bridge using:
...hollow pieces of cast iron in a longitudinal direction and plates or pipes of the same material, having sockets on them, to receive the ends or shoulders of the said pipes, tubes, or other hollow pieces, placed transversely; and extending from one side of the bridge to the other, so that when the required number of pipes, tubes, or other hollow pieces of cast-iron, and transverse places, or pieces, are put together they form the arch, and so firmly fix, connect, and unite, all the parts, as not to require the aid of screws, bolts, cramps, or any wrought-iron fastenings whatever; but, for the sake of giving the joins a more equal bearing, it will be proper to run lead or cement into them.
The bridge at Culford follows this design with 5 cast iron
voussoirs A voussoir (British English, UK: ; American English, US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault (architecture), vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford Univers ...
making up one segment arc, which is repeated six times, forming the 60 ft span connected with socketed joints. Arched plates between the ribs carry the infill up to roadway level with channelled granite abutments on either side. Masonry balustrades line the edge of the bridge, 20 ft wide, with carved marble urns at the ends.


Construction

The metal segments for the bridge were cast in 1804 by William Hawks and Son of
Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...
and weighed 80 tons, along with 2 tons of lead for £1,457. It's estimated that the additional cost of transportation, stonework, and construction gave a total of £10,000 for the installation of the bridge, approximately £1 million in 2019 prices. Samuel Wyatt's brother James was appointed in the 1790s to make modifications to Culford Hall, which drew heavily on Samuel's work at
Shugborough Hall Shugborough Hall is a stately home near Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England. The hall is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about east of Stafford and from Rugeley. The estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the dissol ...
, so it is likely that Samuel's bridge design was introduced at this point. The infill of the bridge between the deck and road surface was examined in 1998 and was found to be made up of; a single layer of yellow bricks, 15cm of chalk, 40cm of
hoggin Hoggin (sometimes buff) is a compactable groundcover that is composed of a mixture of clay, gravel, and sand or granite dust that produces a buff-coloured bound surface. It is more commonly seen in the south of England and at National Trust for P ...
, finished with 5cm of topsoil with a slightly different composition at the abutments. It is believed that this material dates from the original construction.


Gallery


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iron Bridge, The Bridges in Suffolk Grade I listed bridges Bridges completed in 1804 Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk Culford Cast-iron arch bridges in England