St Petersgate Bridge

St Petersgate Bridge

A road bridge with two commercial premises and two flights of pedestrian steps, built between 1866 and 1868. The designer was R Rawlinson and the engineer was Brierley of Blackburn. The structure is constructed from brick with stone piers, parapets, dressings and steps, and incorporates a cast-iron deck and balustrades.

The bridge runs north-south, carrying St Petersgate across Little Underbank, which runs east-west. The main structure consists of five brick arches with a cast-iron beam deck spanning the street. One brick arch to the north incorporates the premises of No. 15 Little Underbank. Four brick arches to the south include the premises of No. 14 (Turners Vaults) Little Underbank, with Royal Oak Yard to the rear. Two flights of pedestrian steps ascend from Little Underbank to St Petersgate: one rising against the north-east side of the bridge with a dog-leg at its north end, the other against the south-west side.

On St Petersgate, the brick bridge features a stone parapet with curved coping and square stone piers with dentil cornices, segmental pediments and domed caps with original iron stands supporting modern lamps. The cast-iron deck balustrades are ornamental, with iron cartouches at their centres. The outer cartouches display the town coat of arms with lion and Britannia supporters, whilst the inner cartouches bear the town coat of arms with the date 1868. The outer iron beams of the deck have ornamental mouldings and brackets visible from Little Underbank.

On Little Underbank, the brick supports flanking the road feature rock-faced stone quoining to the corners and pilasters flanking the bridge deck. Each support contains a two-storey commercial premises with three bays, a stone plinth, and a central segmental-arched doorway with stone imposts. The doorways have double panelled doors with single-pane overlights. On either side of each doorway is a round-headed window with moulded stone sill and giant rock-faced keystone. No. 15 has one-over-one pane wooden windows; those to No. 14 are presently boarded. At first-floor level are three blind round-headed windows with giant rock-faced keystones and a stone sill band. The brick arches to the rear contain brick infill with round-headed windows with projecting stone sills. The interiors were not inspected.

The north-east flight of stone steps rises parallel to the bridge to a landing, then turns through 90 degrees and rises to a half-landing before returning in a dog-leg up to St Petersgate. A brick retaining wall with stone coping bounds the outer side of the steps and terminates against a building on the north side. A steeply sloping brick wall with stone coping separates the two flights of the dog-leg. Three cast-iron signs with pointing hands and relief lettering are mounted on the steps: TO ST PETERSGATE appears at the bottom and halfway up, and TO UNDERBANK at the top.

The south-west flight of stone steps has a tarmac coating and rises parallel to the bridge in four flights separated by landings of differing lengths, with a brick retaining wall and stone coping. At the bottom is a similar cast-iron sign reading TO ST PETERSGATE, and at the top is a square stone pier terminating the retaining wall, carved on its side with DOWN TO THE UNDERBANKS. Both flights retain cast-iron mountings set in stone blocks for original handrails, though the present cast-iron handrails are replacements. The wall lamps are modern reproductions.