Deep Pit railway footbridge WBS/24, including brick piers, northern setted access path and southern access ramp

This is a railway pedestrian overbridge dating from 1882, likely designed by Sturges Meek for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and constructed by Walker Brothers. The bridge is constructed primarily of wrought-iron, with supporting piers of engineering brick and a cast-iron frame. A sandstone setted path approaches the bridge from the north, and a southern access ramp leads down.

The bridge spans approximately north-south for around 40 metres, with a southern access ramp extending for roughly 35 metres. It is unusually of a bowstring-truss type, with a basket-arched upper chord rising to about 4 metres above a flat deck approximately 2 metres wide. The upper chord and deck are connected by vertical ties which create 26 bays or sections, with additional diagonal ties in the outer sections and crossed diagonal ties in the central four sections. Swan-necked vertical stays drop from the upper chord and return across the soffit of the deck. The upper chords are horizontally tied by lateral and crossed diagonal ties, extending as far as the outer three sections at either end. Where the arch drops towards the deck, vertical stays extend above the arch to carry the horizontal ties, creating a flat ‘roof’ that extends to meet an arch-headed portal of lattice work. This portal is crowned with a vertical finial, with decorative diagonal supports—the southern finial was damaged in 2023. The feet of the bridge are bolted to the supporting piers. Modern mesh is fixed to the trusses.

The southern ramp is also wrought-iron, with riveted lattice balustrades surmounted by rails with welded supports and splayed feet. Outer diagonal stays are tied beneath the soffit of the deck. The ramp is supported by two frames, each consisting of two cast-iron columns with wrought-iron diagonal ties and palmette capitals.

The south end of the bridge rests on a rectangular blue-brick pier with a stone cap. This supports an L-plan brick wall enclosing the landing at the top of the ramp, featuring a stone coping on the angle and bullnosed brick copings elsewhere. The north end rests on a similar pier that is buttressed to the east and west by a wall of the same material, sloping at 45 degrees to retain the earth ramp of the northern approach. A setted path, approximately 25m long, approaches the bridge from the north-east; in 2023, a small section of setts was missing approximately halfway along its length.