Vignoles Bridge is a footbridge over the

River Sherbourne The River Sherbourne is a river that flows under the centre of the city of Coventry, in the West Midlands, in England. The source of the river is in the fields near Hawkes End in the parish of Allesley. It flows for about 8 miles or 13 km ...

Spon End Spon End is a suburb of Coventry, England. It is situated west of Coventry city centre. The Butts Park Arena and a Premier Inn hotel are situated on the main road through Spon End. The Butts Park Arena, which was opened in 2004, is the home of C ...

, a western suburb of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

in central England. It stands just west of the inner ring road in the middle of a housing estate, to where it was relocated in 1969. It was built in 1835 and originally spanned the

Oxford Canal The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames ...

. The bridge is a single-span cast-iron arch and is a

scheduled 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 ...

Description

Vignoles Bridge is a single-span

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

elliptical arch. Elliptical arches became popular in Britain in the second half of the 18th century because they allow for greater headroom at the ends. They thus became popular on canals, which have a

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport w ...

to the side, because they could be built with room for a horse to walk underneath. Many cast-iron bridges in this style were built and became common on canals around

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and the wider West Midlands. The walkway is covered with tarmac and has cast-iron

balustrades A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

with geometric piercings in the metalwork either side. The

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s are in red brick with their own parapet; these splay outwards at the landward ends. The bridge spans the

in the middle of a housing estate in the

area, just west of

city centre and just outside the inner ring road. The river flows through the city centre in a culvert, which it enters just beyond the bridge.

History

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...

developed the first techniques for maximising the potential of cast iron as a construction material, realising that the lighter frames could use flatter angles and less substantial foundations than timber bridges while preserving the single span, and thus the navigability of the waterways they cross.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

, which is responsible for scheduling ancient monuments in England, considers all examples of iron bridges which retain significant original fabric to be of importance. Vignoles Bridge is of particular interest because it "survives well and retains its original features thus demonstrating its engineering design and reflecting the manufacturing process", despite having been moved from its original site. The bridge originally occupied a site on the

(which runs from Coventry to Oxford) near Sowe Common to the north east of the city centre. The bridge was designed by the engineer Charles Blacker Vignoles and cast at Horseley Iron Works in 1835. Hundreds of canal bridges were cast at the same works. The bridge is known locally as Vignoles Bridge, after its designer. It was moved to its current site in 1969 when it was displaced by construction of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...

. It is descried in a history of civil enginnering as "a good example of the preservation of a structure by re-use on another site".

References

{{reflist Scheduled monuments in the West Midlands (county) Cast-iron arch bridges in England Bridges in Coventry Bridges completed in 1835

Description

History

See also

References