Friar Gate Bridge is a railway bridge at the end of Friar Gate in the centre of

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

of England. The bridge is a remnant of the

GNR Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension The Derbyshire and Staffordshire extension of the Great Northern Railway (Great Britain), Great Northern Railway was an English railway network built by the GNR to get access to coal resources in the area to the north and west of Nottingham. The Mi ...

(known locally as the Friargate Line); it formed the approach to Derby Friargate railway station. It is a 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 ...

History and design

The bridge was built in 1878 by

Andrew Handyside and Company Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, a Derby-based iron foundry firm, to the design of

Richard Johnson Richard or Dick Johnson may refer to: Academics * Dick Johnson (academic) (1929–2019), Australian academic * Richard C. Johnson (1930–2003), professor of electrical engineering * Richard A. Johnson, artist and professor at the University of ...

, the Great Northern Railway's chief engineer for the route. It is of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

construction with stone abutments and is significant for the intricate decoration of the ironwork including the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

s—which contain a deer motif, similar to the one on the city's coat of arms—and balustrade and the decorative two-tone paintwork. It carried the Great Northern Railway's

Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension The Derbyshire and Staffordshire extension of the Great Northern Railway was an English railway network built by the GNR to get access to coal resources in the area to the north and west of Nottingham. The Midland Railway had obstructed the GNR in ...

across the foot of Friar Gate and into Derby Friargate railway station from the direction of

Nottingham Victoria railway station Nottingham Victoria railway station was a Great Central Railway and Great Northern Railway (Great Britain), Great Northern Railway railway station in Nottingham, England. It was designed by the architect Albert Edward Lambert, who also designed ...

via

Bennerley Viaduct Bennerley Viaduct (originally Ilkeston Viaduct and known informally as the Iron Giant) is a former railway bridge, now a foot and cycle bridge, between Ilkeston, Derbyshire, and Awsworth, Nottinghamshire, in central England. It was completed ...

. Friar Gate is a street of Georgian houses on the edge of Derby city centre and the bridge was built to be sympathetic to the local architecture, though it did not appease local residents who complained of its "meretricious decoration, which only emphasised the insult". The bridge is, in fact, two separate bridges set slightly apart in a vee shape; the tracks on each span served opposite sides of the island platform at Friargate station. Each bridge consists of four panels of ribbed arches bolted together. The railway line closed in 1964 as a result of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

. Most of the infrastructure was demolished, and the bridge and the nearby goods warehouse (built in the same year) are among the only traces of Friargate station. The Friargate Bridge forms a gap in the viaduct on which the station was sited, the arches of which remain in use by various businesses. The bridge is not accessible; the surrounding area is largely derelict and wildlife has taken over. The bridge itself fell into disrepair after its closure and

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

eventually sold it to

Derby City Council Derby City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Derby, in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire in the East Midlands region of England. Derby has had a council from medieval ...

for the nominal sum of £1, on condition that the council assumed responsibility for the bridge's maintenance. The bridge has been a Grade II

since 28 March 1974. It is part of a group of listed buildings with 27–32, 35–39, and 41–51 Friar Gate and 47 Ford Street. A

red telephone box The red telephone box is a telephone kiosk for a public telephone designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect responsible for Liverpool Cathedral. The telephone box is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, its associa ...

under the bridge is also a listed building. A campaign group was established in the 1970s to lobby for the restoration of the bridge. Derby City Council attempted several restoration projects after taking ownership of the bridge, but none came to fruition. In 2015, the council spent £260,000 on restoration work and engineering reports, in order to support an application to the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

for £1 million for a larger restoration project including tree clearance and drainage improvements. The bridge is the subject of the duo

Flanagan and Allen Flanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy double act most active during the 1930s and 1940s. Its members were Bud Flanagan (1896 – 1968, born Chaim Weintrop) and Chesney Allen (1894–1982). They were first paired in a Florrie Ford ...

's best known song '' Underneath the Arches'', referring to the homeless men who slept there during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. According to a television programme broadcast in 1957,

Bud Flanagan Bud Flanagan (born Chaim Reuben Weintrop, 14 October 1896 – 20 October 1968) was a British music hall and vaudeville entertainer and comedian, and later a television and film actor. He was best known as being one half of the comedy and musi ...

said that he wrote the song in Derby in 1927, and first performed it a week later at the Pier Pavilion,

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

.
Together Again
', TV Programme broadcast 19 April 1957

References

External links

{{commons category, Friargate Bridge, Derby
Friends of Friar Gate Bridge
Bridges in Derby Grade II listed buildings in Derby Bridges completed in 1878 Great Northern Railway (Great Britain) Railway bridges in Derbyshire

History and design

See also

References

External links