Borrow's Bridge and Associated Hand-cranked Crane, Bridgewater Canal, Norton

Canal Bridge, of about 1770, by James Brindley, for the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal, and an associated hand-cranked crane of late-C19 to early-C20 date.

MATERIALS: red brick in English Garden Wall bond, with ashlar gritstone dressings.

PLAN: rectangular-plan, single-span accommodation bridge with curved splayed abutments and wing walls.

DESCRIPTION: a single-span, segmental bridge arch with brick soffit and voussoirs, beneath a projecting ashlar sandstone band that springs from ashlar skew back stones, set within the splayed abutments. The west approach has a coursed sandstone retaining wall on its northern side, protected by a galvanised tube handrail supported by timber posts. The north parapet wall has flush gritstone coping stones with chamfered edges that step down over the curved wing walls to either side. A benchmark has been inscribed into a coping stone towards the western end of the north parapet. Both parapets show evidence of re-building with extensive patching in different types of brick. However, both retain their original design appearance with the exceptions of the stepped down ends of the south parapet, which have been replaced in brick. Canted brick buttressing is evident to the interior face of the eastern ends of the north parapet wall, where the road surface falls steeply away. The canal banks beneath the bridge have gritstone block retaining walls that are inclined and canted back to either side of the abutments. Secondary brickwork in-fills the former timber roller recesses in the corners of the east abutment. A late-C20 aluminium rectangular name plate is attached to the ashlar band of the west arch, which reads: BORROWS BRIDGE in green raised lettering, on a cream coloured ground.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a level surface, formed against the north-west retaining wall, forms a storage area and working platform for the handling of stop planks, served by a hand-cranked crane. The crane is mounted onto a cast-iron holdfast bed by a central pivot post that supports moulded framed and panelled side plates, with external cog wheels, a cable drum, and a tubular jib that terminates in a pulley wheel. Slots to accept the stop planks exist in the retaining walls to either side of the canal on the northern side of the bridge.