Broughton Bridge

SE 91 SE BROUGHTON BRIDGE ROAD

4/32 Broughton Bridge

II

Inverted suspension bridge. Mid-late C19, re-using earlier C19 abutments; C20 rebuilt inner piers. For the Commissioners of the Ancholme Drainage and Navigation. Wrought-iron bridge with timber decking, cast-iron railings and yellow brick abutments with sandstone ashlar dressings. Single span, of single carriageway width, between abutments splayed-out to roadway entrances. Abutments set on sloping riverbanks; each has a blind segmental arch between pair of inner piers with chamfered plinths and moulded cornices at deck level, with coped upper piers housing the bridge anchorages flanking with roadway above. Upper piers linked by coped dwarf walls and railings to similar outer piers flanking the entrance. Bridge span of 2 arched ribs with vertical and diagonal suspension rods: the main vertical rods bolted to the ends of transverse iron bearers for the plank deck, the diagonal rods welded to continuous plates supporting the bearers. Scrolled cast-iron railings from inner piers to central arch; fret balustrade between outer piers; plain rails to main span bolted onto suspension rods. The bridge, like those at Cadney and Hibaldstow (qv), may be a replacement of an earlier C19 wooden bridge, by Alfred Atkinson, engineer for the Ancholme Navigation. The deck suspension arrangements are similar to those used at Sir John Rennie's Horkstow Bridge of 1834-5 (qv). A well-designed and well-built bridge, unaltered apart from minor repairs to deck and abutments.

Listing NGR: SE9852810577