Thickley Wood railway footbridge

Railway footbridge, 1857 by John Harris for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, extended 1868-1869.

MATERIALS: cast iron, wrought iron, hammer-dressed sandstone with rock-facing to the quoin stones, and brick.

DETAILS: the bridge is of four spans and now has a long approach-embankment to the south (the embankment together with the southernmost welded steel span were built in 2018 to replace lattice girder spans dated 1875). The northern three spans are C19:

The earliest span (1857) is the northernmost. This is of 16.5m constructed as a cast iron beam bridge, utilising single castings for the sides of the bridge, these being linked by transverse brick jack arching that supports the bridge deck. The castings carry prominent makers plates reading ‘HARRIS * MDCCCLVII * MAKER’. This span retains its original cast iron balustraded parapet which has been heighted with an additional handrail. The northern bridge abutment is of masonry with curving wing-walls, the parapet terminating with brick-built piers with stone pyramidal caps. The raising from its original height is marked by a change in the stonework to the abutment. Fixed to this stonework are two metal brackets carrying ceramic insulators, these being part of the electrification of the line, installed 1914-1916.

The southern end of the 1857 bridge is supported by a short masonry span. This is mainly stone-built, but with the single semi-circular arch formed with four arch-rings of brick headers, brick also used for the raised parapets. The original base of the parapet is marked by a dressed stone band. The raising of the level of the iron spans to either side is marked by the addition of courses of stonework that are more smoothly dressed than that of the rest of the bridge.

The third span from the north is 10.9m and dates to 1868-1869. It is an iron beam bridge constructed of two wrought iron I-beam girders linked by wrought iron ties finished with a timber deck, its southern end supported on a masonry pier. The welded steel parapets* to this span were added in 2018.

• Pursuant to section 1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.