Manchester And Leeds Railway Gauxholme Railway Bridge Over The Rochdale Canal

The Gauxholme Railway Bridge over the Rochdale Canal is a railway bridge built in 1840 by George Stephenson. It features pitch-faced retaining walls and large dressed stone towers, with a cast-iron and steel bridge spanning between them. The structure includes four semi-octagonal towers adorned with a torus moulded band. One face of the bridge has a blank shield flanked by blind arrow-slits, and there is a band beneath false machiolations topped with an embattled parapet. The original cast-iron bridge has a segmental arch with an engraved shield at the center, although the inscription is not legible. Gothic cavetto chamfered lancets support the top rail. Between the original bridge, which now serves as a balustrade, and the current line is a square sectional steel bridge from the mid-20th century. This bridge is considered the most outstanding railway bridge on the line.