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

This is a canal bridge, constructed around 1770 by James Brindley for the Duke of Bridgewater’s Canal, along with a later hand-cranked crane dating from the late 19th to early 20th century. The bridge is built of red brick in an English Garden Wall bond, with ashlar gritstone dressings.

The bridge has a rectangular, single-span plan and features curved, splayed abutments and wing walls. It is a single-span, segmental bridge arch with a brick soffit and voussoirs, beneath a projecting ashlar sandstone band springing from ashlar skew back stones within the splayed abutments. A retaining wall of coursed sandstone on the northern side of the western approach is protected by a galvanised tube handrail supported by timber posts. The north parapet wall has flush gritstone coping stones with chamfered edges stepping down over the curved wing walls. A benchmark is inscribed on a coping stone towards the western end of the north parapet. Both parapets have been rebuilt and patched with different types of brick, though they largely retain their original design. The ends of the south parapet have been replaced in brick. Canted brick buttressing is visible on the interior face of the north parapet wall’s eastern ends, where the road surface slopes steeply. Gritstone block retaining walls, inclined and canted back to either side of the abutments, support the canal banks beneath the bridge. Secondary brickwork fills in former timber roller recesses in the corners of the east abutment. A late 20th-century aluminium name plate, reading "BORROWS BRIDGE" in green raised lettering on a cream background, is attached to the ashlar band of the west arch.

Adjacent to the north-west retaining wall, a level area serves as a storage space and working platform for handling stop planks, and is served by a hand-cranked crane. The crane sits on a cast-iron base with a central pivot post supporting moulded framed and panelled side plates, external cog wheels, a cable drum, and a tubular jib ending in a pulley wheel. Slots for the stop planks are set into the retaining walls on either side of the canal, on the northern side of the bridge.