Grosvenor Bridge (Chester)
Coordinates: 53 ° 11 ′ 1 ″ N , 2 ° 53 ′ 46 ″ W.
| Grosvenor Bridge | ||
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| use | Road bridge | |
| Crossing of | Dee | |
| place | Chester | |
| construction | Stone arch bridge | |
| overall length | 100 m | |
| width | 10 m | |
| Number of openings | 1 + 2 | |
| Longest span | 61 m (200 ft) | |
| start of building | 1827 | |
| completion | 1834 | |
| planner | Thomas Harrison | |
| location | ||
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The Grosvenor Bridge is a road bridge over the River Dee , which connects the old town of Chester on the Grosvenor Road with its southern suburbs and the town on the A 483 with Swansea in Wales .
description
The stone arch bridge is around 100 m long and 9 m wide. It has a carriageway and a walkway in each direction. There are three candelabras on each of the parapet walls .
The bridge consists of a mighty segment arch with a span of 61 m (200 ft) between a 10 m wide pillar on each side of the river, which is connected to the abutments on the bank via two small round arches over the bank roads. The abutments were built on the north side directly on the sandstone of the river bank, on the south side on a stone slab built on piling. The large arch consists of two layers of light sandstone blocks, over which there are two layers of flat, darker sandstone blocks. The slightly recessed gussets have cavities on the inside so that the arch is not excessively stressed. The exterior of the bridge is designed in the classical style of its planner Thomas Harrison , who was influenced by a long stay in Italy.
At the time of its completion, the bridge had the largest span of any stone arch bridge in the world until it was surpassed by the Union Arch Bridge in the Washington Aqueduct in 1864 . It still has the largest span of any stone arch bridge in Great Britain.
The bridge has been listed by English Heritage as a Grade I building .
history
Chester, at that time one of the most important English ports and shipbuilding centers, had only one overloaded bridge at the beginning of the 18th century, but shied away from the enormous expenses for a new construction. When Thomas Telford was commissioned in 1815 to build a road from Shrewsbury to Holyhead on Anglesey , which would have bypassed Chester's lucrative trade with Ireland, a commission was set up in 1818 which advocated a new building and the then 74-year-old Thomas Harrison was entrusted with the initial planning. Since the river was still navigable at that time, the bridge had to have a high arch as a passage for the masts of the sailing ships. However, it was not until October 1, 1827, when Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster laid the foundation stone. The 83 year old Harrison left the construction supervision to his student William Cole; the construction was carried out by the famous builder James Trubshaw. The opening ceremony of the bridge, which had not yet been completed, took place on October 17, 1832, by Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent and her thirteen-year-old daughter Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent , who later became Queen Victoria, who were to be baptized Daughter of the Westminster House stayed at Eaton Hall near Chester. The actual completion took place in November 1833, so that the bridge could be opened to traffic in January 1834. Since then, the bridge has withstood the growing traffic loads without any special repairs.
Individual evidence
- ^ Grosvenor Bridge , Engineering Timelines
- ↑ Grosvenor Bridge, Chester ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The National Heritage List of England
- ↑ a b c d The Grosvenor Bridge The Black & White Picture Place
