Ashton Swing Bridge

The Ashton Swing Bridge is a railway and road swing bridge, now fixed, built in 1905-6 for Bristol Corporation and the Great Western Railway. Constructed as part of the Bristol Harbour lines connecting Portishead to Canon's Marsh and Wapping Wharf, the bridge's chief engineer was j.C.lnglis, with construction carried out by John Lysaght and Co of Bristol, and hydraulic machinery supplied by Armstrong Whitworth and Co. The bridge consists of steel, with squared rock-faced limestone abutments, and two piers, the southern of which supports the swinging apparatus. A large Whipple Murphy truss span, weighing approximately 1000 tons, carries a single rail track across the Avon New Cut, connecting the south side of the Floating Harbour to the north bank via the Cumberland Basin bridge.

Initially, the bridge was a joint project between the City and the GWR, although the City bore the main cost of £70,000, with the railway contributing £18,000, the original estimated cost. It originally had a road deck and an operating cabin at the top of the girder, although these have since been removed. The bridge was operated hydraulically using 182 gallons of water per cycle, and represents a late addition to the docks hydraulic system. It was swung an average of 10 times daily in its early years, but ceased operation in 1936. The railway's obligation to maintain the bridge as an opening bridge was rescinded in 1951. Following the completion of the Plimsoll Bridge road system in 1965, the road deck and cabin were removed. The bridge stands as an unusual example of a combined road/rail swing bridge.