Victoria Bridge in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, England, was built in 1836 across the River Avon. The bridge has been recognised as a 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 ...

. Victoria Bridge is an important example of a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

which initially carried horses and carts but later carried cyclists and pedestrians.

Construction

Victoria Bridge is a Dredge taper bridge, a type which modern viewers often see as a hybrid between a

and a

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern ...

, built by Motley and Dredge. It has a span of with the chains slung from

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City o ...

towers. The road deck is joined to the chains by iron eyebars, which, unusually, are not vertical. James Dredge who was a brewer in Bath designed the bridge to carry beer from his brewery across the river without using a ferry or having to detour through the city centre. Construction cost £1,760. He patented the ' taper principle' based on using chains rather than cables, as is now more common in

s. Dredge's bridge design was considered "a very significant yet relatively short-lived phase in suspension bridge development". The main span chains of Victoria Bridge have 155 links each of which is long and supports two wrought iron hangers. The deck is made of wooden planks. Initially the bridge was used for horse-drawn carts but later only carried bicycles and pedestrians.

Closure and restoration

Bath , Victorian Bridge over the River Avon - geograph

In October 2010 the bridge was closed to users, because of concerns about the safety of the beams and cables. This caused criticism from cycling groups in the city. It was reopened later in October 2010, but then closed again. Further inspections were carried out by a structural engineer in September 2011. In November 2011 the tow-path was closed and then the navigation itself was closed to all boats. The bridge was listed 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 actio ...

. Restoration costs were estimated at £3 million in 2011. Emergency work to prop up either side of the bridge and apply temporary strapping took place in November 2011. Full restoration work was originally planned to be completed by the winter of 2013. Work on restoring the bridge started in 2014, and an internal structure was fitted to render both the bridge and the canal usable during restorations. The bridge was taken apart and rebuilt with additional steel reinforcing, and repainted dark green. It officially reopened on 15 January 2015.

References

{{reflist, 30em Bridges in Somerset Road bridges in England Grade II* listed buildings in Bath, Somerset Grade II* listed bridges in England Cable-stayed bridges in England Structures on the Heritage at Risk register in Somerset Bridges across the River Avon, Bristol Bridges by James Dredge 1836 establishments in England