Dutton Horse Bridge is a timber twin-span footbridge across part of the

Weaver navigation The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, northern England. Improvements to the river to make it navigable were authorised in 1721 and the work, which included ...

, near the villages of

Acton Bridge Map of the civil parish of Acton Bridge within the former borough of Vale Royal Acton Bridge (formerly Acton) is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. Located within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester on the River We ...

and Dutton in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. The bridge is located at , between the Dutton Locks and Dutton Viaduct. It carries the towpath across a subsidiary channel used to regulate the water level, at the point where it rejoins the main river. The bridge dates from 1915–1919 and is by John Arthur Saner. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

; the listing describes it as "an elegant structure in the functional waterways tradition". The bridge is one of the earliest remaining examples of a laminated timber structure, and is also believed to be the sole

laminated Simulated flight (using image stack created by μCT scanning) through the length of a knitting needle that consists of laminated wooden layers: the layers can be differentiated by the change of direction of the wood's vessels Shattered windshi ...

greenheart timber bridge in the country.

History

J. A. Saner, the bridge's designer, was chief engineer to the Weaver Navigation Trust from 1888 to 1934. He was responsible for many other innovative structures on the Weaver, including

Northwich Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane, east of Chester, south of Warrington and south of Ma ...

's Hayhurst Bridge and

Town Bridge The Town Bridge is a historic truss bridge, carrying Town Bridge Road over the Farmington River in Canton, Connecticut. Built in 1895, it is one of only two surviving pin-connected Parker truss bridges in the state. It was listed on the Nation ...

of 1899, believed to be the two earliest electrically operated

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

s in Britain, as well as the electrification of the Anderton Boat Lift. Work on Dutton Horse Bridge commenced in 1915 (engineering drawings from that date were archived by

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotlan ...

), and was completed in June 1919. The bridge was renovated in the 1990s, when some of the submerged greenheart timber was found to be still intact.

Description

The bridge is constructed predominantly of greenheart timber. It has two spans, one of and the other of . Each span consists of paired semi-elliptical timber arches of mechanically laminated timber, strengthened with triangulated timber struts, which also support the platform. The paired arches are braced by cast-iron struts. The bridge platform is wide with a gentle arch. It has simple timber guard rails of the post-and-rail type. The deck was originally constructed of

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

-coated timber slats. The central pier rests on two connected cylindrical columns of concrete-filled brick. 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 that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s are built of brick capped with concrete copings; they rest on timber

piles Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''he ...

. The timberwork is painted white and the ironwork black.

Modern usage

The Weaver Valley is being redeveloped to promote tourism. A recreation area at Dutton Locks was created in 2002, including a bench by local artist Phil Bews to encourage tourists to enjoy the views towards the bridge and the nearby viaduct. The towpath crossing the bridge is a

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider ...

, which forms part of the Aston Ring Bridleway.

Notes

References

{{reflist, 2

External links