Derby Road Bridge (SPC8 25)

MATERIALS: the faces of the bridge and the underside walls are of coursed and squared Coal Measure sandstone with tooled Derbyshire gritstone dressings. The soffit of the arch is of skew-set red brick.

EXTERIOR: the single segmental arch conforms to the standard dimensions of the Stephensons’ overbridges, with a 30 feet span and, originally, a 16 feet rise. The north face is identical to the south face. The arch has ashlar voussoirs springing from impost bands. These continue into the underside of the bridge which has lower courses of coursed quarry-faced stone. Flanking the arch are raked, concave piers with quoins. The abutment is angled out to meet the piers with a pitched coping stone over. The wing walls are splayed and raked and terminate in half-hexagonal piers on bases. Above the arch, there is a bold roll moulding with a tooled finish running the length of the bridge. Above, the parapet has a broad ashlar course with a chamfered top edge, and then two courses of stone with picked surfaces and tooled margins. The square-moulded coping stones are tooled and have a slight fall to the outside edge. The inside faces of the parapets have two to three courses, increasing because of the gradient of the roadway. On the outer face of the high mileage parapet there are patches of much cleaner stone. As this is not evident on the inner (road) side of the parapet, it is likely to be a re-facing. There is no other evidence of alteration.