The Gasworks Bridge, also known as the Old Gasworks Bridge, is an iron bridge across the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is a

pedestrian bridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

linking

St Ebbes St Ebbes is a district of central Oxford, England, southwest of Carfax. St Ebbes Street runs south from the western end of Queen Street. __TOC__ Overview The area takes its name from the parish church of St Ebbe's, dedicated to Saint Æ ...

to the

Grandpont Grandpont is a mainly residential area in south Oxford. It is west of Abingdon Road, and consists mainly of narrow streets that run at right angles to the main road, with terraced late- Victorian and Edwardian houses. It also contains the Grandp ...

nature reserve. It crosses the river on the reach between Iffley Lock and

Osney Lock Osney Lock is a lock on the River Thames in Oxford, England, where the village or island of Osney is next to the river. The first lock was built of stone by Daniel Harris for the Thames Navigation Commission in 1790. Across the weir poo ...

. The bridge was constructed by the Oxford & District Gas Company in 1886 for a short railway branch line to carry coal to the

gas works A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

from the main Cherwell Valley Line at a junction just south of

Osney Rail Bridge Osney Rail Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Thames at Oxford in England. It carries the Cherwell Valley Line between Didcot and Oxford across the river on the reach between Iffley Lock and Osney Lock. The original bridge was built in ...

. The bridge was built by assembling sections on the south bank of the river and floating them into position. The gas works was demolished in 1960; no evidence of the railway line is visible on the footbridge. Since the demolition of the gas works, other names have been used for the bridge. For a few years after the closure of the railway it appears to have been crossed by a private road, and the Environment Agency refers to the bridge simply as "Road Bridge", although no road now crosses it. The bridge is now usually referred to by its old name. It has occasionally been referred to as Osney Footbridge, although the bridge is some distance from Osney, and that name is also used for a different bridge.The Osney Lane bridge in Geograph
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References

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Photograph
on Geograph
Heritage Explorer

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

{{S-end 1882 establishments in England Bridges completed in 1882 Pedestrian bridges across the River Thames Bridges in Oxford Former railway bridges in the United Kingdom

See also

References

External links