The Kingsferry Bridge is a combined road and railway

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swi ...

which connects the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the districts of England, local government district of Borough ...

to mainland

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

. The seven-span bridge has a central lifting span which allows ships to pass. Opened in 1860, the first bridge on this site was constructed for the London, Chatham & Dover Railway Company on their line between Kent and the port of

Sheerness Sheerness () is a port town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 13,249, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby ...

. Originally a

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

, it opened to allow large vessels to navigate past and not obstruct maritime traffic on the Swale. On 17 December 1922, the Norwegian cargo ship collided with the bridge; it was repaired and returned to service after 10 months. The bascule bridge was closed in the 1950s and was replaced by the present Kingsferry Bridge. The new bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson, and constructed by John Howard, in conjunction with Dorman Long and Sir William Arrol & Co. Swale railway station is at the southern end of the bridge. When opened, the structure carried the A249; up to 30,000 vehicles per day used the bridge. Most vehicular traffic has been diverted onto the

Sheppey Crossing The Sheppey Crossing is a bridge which carries the A249 road across the Swale (a tidal strait of the Thames Estuary), linking the Isle of Sheppey with the mainland of Kent. The four-lane crossing measures 21.5 m (71 feet) in width, at a height ...

, which opened in 2006. The number of road vehicles crossing Kingsferry Bridge has dropped but it is still maintained as a key roadway between the island and the mainland, particularly for non-vehicular traffic and pedestrians.

History

Background

In 1860, the first bridge on the site was completed. It was a

, built to carry railway traffic across The Swale between the

and mainland

for the London, Chatham & Dover Railway Company to the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

. There was also provision for road traffic over a single lane, controlled by traffic lights. The LCDR and the South Eastern Railway (SER) amalgamated to form the South Eastern & Chatham Railway which replaced major elements of the bridge and during 1904, a replacement Scherzer-type moving section was installed.Otter, Robert A. "Civil Engineering Heritage: Southern England." Thomas Telford Publishing, 1994. p. 239. “Kingsferry Vertical Lift Bridge.”
‘’engineering-timelines.com’’, Retrieved: 10 July 2018. On 17 December 1922, the Norwegian cargo ship collided with the bridge causing extensive damage and a lengthy closure. Repairs took ten months before it was re-opened to traffic. It remained in use until 1960 when it was replaced by the present bridge and demolished.

Current bridge

During the late 1940s, it was recognised that a new bridge was required, because the existing bridge did not meet the increasing traffic demands of people wanting to use road vehicles. The design for the replacement bridge incorporated a two-lane roadway and a pedestrian footpath alongside the railway track. The new bridge's elevation was dictated by the low-lying river banks and the railway limited its maximum possible gradient. In December 1957, construction commenced. The resident engineer was R. Hodges and the

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

ing company John Howard & Co was appointed the principal contractor; the

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

work was sourced from Dorman Long and the machinery was provided Sir William Arrol & Co. On 20 April 1960, it was officially opened by the Duchess of Kent. For many decades, Kingsferry Bridge was the only crossing to Sheppey. Before the opening of the

in 2006, up to 30,000 vehicles per day crossed the bridge. Road traffic was inconvenienced when the bridge was opened to enable the boats to pass, usually at high tide. Each closure lasts for 15 to 20 minutes. Kingsferry Bridge has been raised over 100,000 times during its lifetime; each lift has to be recorded. During January 2015, a bid by Iwade Parish Council to have the bridge recognised as a listed structure was turned down by

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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as it did not fall into the categories used to determine those sites that are most in need of protection. During 2010, the Kent Police borrowed £73,000 from Swale Borough Council for an automatic number plate recognition system (ANPR). The system was installed on the Sheppey Crossing and Kingsferry Bridge that year in a bid to track criminals' movements.

Mechanics and structure

The bridge is a combined road and railway vertical-lift bridge. It carries a 24-foot (7.3m) wide two-lane road, a 6-foot (1.8m) wide footpath and a single-track electrified railway line. Although the railway operates by electrified

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...

, there is no electrification over the moving section of the bridge. To cross the bridge, electric trains coast across the gap in the electrification. Structurally, the bridge comprises two sets of approach spans, each of which has three spans, either side of the central main lifting span. Each span comprises two

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylinder (geometry), cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the deformed e ...

ed longitudinal

deck

girder A girder () is a Beam (structure), beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a sta ...

s, supporting riveted cross girders, which in turn support a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

slab deck. Each set of three spans consists of two simply supported end spans which continue as cantilevers approximately 1/5 span into the middle span. The central 3/5 span sections are simply supported drop in spans supported by halving joints. The main span is a structurally independent lifting span. The bearings are inset from the end lifting beams. Spans 1, 3, 5 and 7 are c/c of bearings. Spans 2 and 6 are , with halving joints from both end and a suspended span of . The central lifting span, Span 4, is c/c of bearings, with cantilevers of either end to the lifting cross girders. The approach spans have cross girders, spaced apart, while the lifting girder features cross girders spaced at intervals of .Anderson, J. K. and C. D. Brown
"Design and Construction of the Kingsferry Lifting Bridge, Isle of Sheppey."
'' Institute of Civil Engineers'', Volume 28 Issue 4, August 1964, pp. 449-470. The bridge

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 of cellular concrete construction. Pier 1, 2, 5 and 6 comprise five reinforced concrete circular caisson piles, formed as piers. They have a diameter of and are spaced at intervals of between centres. A reinforced concrete cap, which has a height of and a depth of 6 feet, sits above the piers. Below the level of river bed is a

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 ...

subway, which links piers 3 and 4 of the bridge’s lifting span. Piers 3 and 4 support the lifting span in addition to the approach spans. They are constructed of a pair of circular reinforced concrete caissons founded in the river bed. The caissons are linked by a concrete structure, positioned at approximately low tide level, which accommodates the machinery room and bearings for the lifting span. Two concrete towers extend above road level; both the towers and their piers are hollow as to allow them to support the lifting cables and

counterweight A counterweight is a weight (object), weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a machine, mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves e ...

s. The towers are braced near the top by two concrete beams. The moving section of the bridge is actuated via a pair of large electric motors located beneath the deck of the roadway. At either side are engine rooms containing equipment for operating the wire ropes and counterweights that lift and lower the bridge. Three storage areas and the bridge control room are located in the bases of the towers. The bridge can only be lifted when the

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

railway signalman has given authorisation to proceed when a train has passed out of the relevant track section. The maximum bridge lifting height is 84 feet; on attaining its full lift height, a klaxon is sounded to give auditory confirmation. To ensure that the lifting span has been correctly set back into place, it is equipped with locating devices to precisely align the tracks. To prevent operations being disrupted by a supply-related power failure, a standby diesel generator, capable of generating up to 40 kW, is located on site.

In popular culture

The bridge and locations nearby were used in the BBC TV series ‘ Silent Witness’, season 26, episodes 7 & 8 ‘Southbay pt1 & pt2’, although the episodes were set on the fictional island of ''Southbay'' on the

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

coast. The bridge was used as a key location for the 2021 miniseries ''Too Close''. The bridge is referenced in the book, “The Bone Clocks: A Novel”, by David Mitchell The bridge was used as a key location in Jason Statham’s ‘The Beekeeper’ (2024).

References