HOME





Thelwall Viaduct
The Thelwall Viaduct () is a steel composite girder viaduct in Lymm, Warrington, England. It carries the M6 motorway across the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey. It is between junctions 20 and 21 of the M6, the former being also known as junction 9 of the M56. Structure It comprises two separate bridges, one of long carrying the northbound carriageway, the longest motorway bridge in England when it was opened in July 1963, and one long carrying the southbound carriageway, opened in 1995. The longest single span is that of crossing the Ship Canal. History The scheme was announced on Thursday 9 July 1959 by Minister of Transport Harold Watkinson, with the Gathurst Viaduct and Creswell Viaduct, near Stafford, over the River Sow. The bridge would cost £5,056,678, and was to be built by Leonard Fairclough & Son, and designed by Sir James Drake. Construction Work started in September 1959, and was to be finished by March 1962. 10,500 tons of steel superstructure ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Manchester Ship Canal
The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West England, North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and River Irwell, Irwell through the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift vessels about to the canal's terminus in Manchester. Landmarks along its route include the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the world's only swing aqueduct, and Trafford Park, the world's first planned industrial estate and still the largest in Europe. The rivers Mersey and Irwell were first made navigable in the early 18th century. Goods were also transported on the Runcorn extension of the Bridgewater Canal (from 1776) and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (from 1830), but by the late 19th century the Mersey and Irwell Navigation had fallen into disrepair and was ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Harold Watkinson
Harold Arthur Watkinson, 1st Viscount Watkinson, (25 January 1910, in Walton on Thames – 19 December 1995, in Bosham) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician. He was Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation between 1955 and 1959 and a cabinet member as Minister of Defence between 1959 and 1962, when he was sacked in the Night of the Long Knives. In 1964 he was ennobled as Viscount Watkinson. Education and early life Educated at Queen's College, Taunton, and at King's College London, Watkinson worked for the family engineering business between 1929 and 1935 and in technical and engineering journalism between 1935 and 1939. He saw active service as a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. Political career Watkinson was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the new constituency of Woking, Surrey in 1950, holding the seat until 1964, and was initially Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Min ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Bridges Across The River Mersey
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross. There are many different designs of bridges, each serving a particular purpose and applicable to different situations. Designs of bridges vary depending on factors such as the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed and anchored, and the material used to make it, and the funds available to build it. The earliest bridges were likely made with fallen trees and stepping stones. The Neolithic people built boardwalk bridges across marshland. The Arkadiko Bridge (dating from the 13th century BC, in the Peloponnese) is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence and use. Etymology The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' traces ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Free Party
A free party is a party "free" from the restrictions of the legal club scene, similar to the Free festival, free festival movement. It typically involves a Sound system (DJ)#Free party, sound system playing electronic dance music from late at night until the time when the organisers decide to go home. A free party can be composed of just one system or of many and if the party becomes a festival, it becomes a teknival. This typically means that recreational drugs, drugs are readily available. The word ''free'' in this context is used both to describe the entry fee and the lack of restrictions and law enforcement. Motivations for organisers range from political protest to simply wanting to have fun. An example of free parties as political protest was their prominence during the M11 link road protest. At most parties no money is asked for entrance since the aim is not to make profit. However, at some (most often indoor) events it is requested at the door to make a donation to co ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


David Jamieson (British Politician)
David Charles Jamieson (born 18 May 1947) is a British politician who served as the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he was previously the Member of Parliament (MP) for Plymouth Devonport from 1992 to 2005 and a Solihull Metropolitan Borough Councillor from 2010 to 2014. Early life and career Born in Solihull, England, he was educated at Tudor Grange Grammar school, and later at St Peter's College, Saltley, Birmingham. Before becoming an MP, he was a teacher at Riland Bedford School and later a head of Mathematics at Crown Hills Community College between 1970 and 1981, before becoming the senior vice principal of the John Kitto Community College in Plymouth (1981–1992). Political career Early career Jamieson was elected to the County Borough of Solihull Council for the Lyndon ward at a by-election in July 1970, having been an unsuccessful candidate in the elections in May of that year. He stood for the same wa ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Roller Bearing
In mechanical engineering, a rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing, is a bearing which carries a load by placing rolling elements (such as balls or rollers) between two concentric, grooved rings called races. The relative motion of the races causes the rolling elements to roll with very little rolling resistance and with little sliding. One of the earliest and best-known rolling-element bearings are sets of logs laid on the ground with a large stone block on top. As the stone is pulled, the logs roll along the ground with little sliding friction. As each log comes out the back, it is moved to the front where the block then rolls on to it. It is possible to imitate such a bearing by placing several pens or pencils on a table and placing an item on top of them. See " bearings" for more on the historical development of bearings. A rolling element rotary bearing uses a shaft in a much larger hole, and cylinders called "rollers" tightly fill the space between ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Pell Frischmann
Pell Frischmann (PF) is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy based in London that provides structural and civil engineering, planning, design, and consulting services. Pell Frischmann employs over 1000 staff worldwide with 8 offices across the UK and international offices in India, the Middle East, Turkey and Romania. The original company was founded by Cecil Pell in the 1920s who entered partnership with Wilem W Frischmann in the early 70s forming Pell Frischmann and Partners. In 2003 the umbrella company became Pell Frischmann Consulting Engineers. Major subsidiaries of the company include Frischmann Prabhu operating in the Asia-Pacific region and Conseco operating in the Middle East. Key areas of business include buildings, building Services, land development and regeneration, traffic and transportation, highways and bridges, railways, environment and process technology, water and wastewater, power, fire engineering and IT and telecommunications. In April 2015, Pell Fr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Carillion
Carillion plc was a British multinational construction and facilities management services company headquartered in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, prior to its liquidation in January 2018. Carillion was created in July 1999, following a demerger from Tarmac. It grew through a series of acquisitions to become the second largest construction company in the United Kingdom, was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and in 2016 had some 43,000 employees (18,257 of them in the United Kingdom). Concerns about Carillion's debt situation were raised in 2015, and after the company experienced financial difficulties in 2017, it went into compulsory liquidation on 15 January 2018, the most drastic procedure in UK insolvency law, with liabilities of almost £7 billion. In the United Kingdom, the insolvency caused project shutdowns and delays in the UK and overseas (PFI projects in Ireland were suspended, while four of Carillion's Canadian businesses sought legal bankruptcy protecti ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Middlewich
Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, east of Chester, east of Winsford, southeast of Northwich and northwest of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595. Middlewich lies at the confluence of three rivers, the River Dane, Dane, River Croco, Croco and River Wheelock, Wheelock. Three canals also pass through the town, the Shropshire Union Canal, Shropshire Union, Trent and Mersey Canal, Trent and Mersey, and the Wardle Canal, as well as three major roads, the A533 road, A533, A54 road, A54 and A530 road, A530; Middlewich also has good motorway links to the nearby cities of Manchester and Liverpool. The town's population has doubled since 1970 despite a reduction in the number of manufacturing jobs in salt and textile manufacturing, suggesting that many of the new residents live in Middlewich for reasons other than local employment. Since 1990 there have been initiatives to increase the volum ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Dorman Long
Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. It was once listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Arthur Dorman and Albert de Lande Long when they acquired ''West Marsh Iron Works'' in 1875. In the 1920s Dorman Long took over the concerns of Bell Brothers and Bolckow and Vaughan and diversified into the construction of bridges. In 1938 Ellis Hunter took over as Managing Director and he continued to lead the business until 1961. In 1967 Dorman Long was nationalised, along with 13 other British steel-making firms, becoming subsumed into the government-owned British Steel Corporation. In 1982 Redpath Dorman Long, the engineering part of the business, was acquired by Trafalgar House who in 1990 merged it into Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company in Darlington. Iron and steel Iron-making has been known in Cleveland since the Romans found iron slags in North Yorkshire, with small-scale iron-making kno ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


James Drake (engineer)
Sir James Drake (27 July 1907 – 1 February 1989) was a chartered civil engineer who is regarded as the pioneer of the national motorway network in the United Kingdom. As the county surveyor and bridgemaster of Lancashire County Council from 1945 to 1972 he led teams that designed the first stretch of motorway opened to the public, the Preston By-pass (now the M6 from Junctions 29 to 32) on 5 December 1958. There then followed numerous contracts to extend the motorway in the north west of England, which, thanks to his role, probably still has the greatest density of motorways in the country. He was appointed a CBE in 1962 for his services as County Surveyor and Bridgemaster of Lancashire County Council and in 1973 he was knighted in recognition of his role as head of the North West Road Construction Unit and the Lancashire Sub-Unit, organisations that further extended his initial work. Early life Drake was born in Burnley, Lancashire, and was educated at Accrington Grammar ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Leonard Fairclough & Son
Leonard Fairclough & Son Ltd was a construction firm based in Adlington, Lancashire, England. History The firm was founded by Leonard Fairclough, a stonemason in Adlington who established his business in 1883. Leonard's son, Leonard Miller Fairclough, joined the company and continued to run it during the First World War. From 1917, the company traded as Leonard Fairclough Limited. In 1927, Leonard Miller Fairclough became chairman of the company, and retained this position until he retired in 1965. Sir Leonard was succeeded by Sir Oswald Davies, who took Fairclough from being a regional contractor to one of the most successful national contractors. Davies bought a number of well known construction businesses, including CV Buchan, Fram Group and Sir Lindsay Parkinson.Wellings, Fred: ''Dictionary of British Housebuilders'' (2006) Troubador. , Also in the 1960s, Fairclough entered the private housebuilding market (Fairclough Homes) with the acquisition of the Lancashire firm of ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]