Bridge Number 72 Hawksmoor Bridge

Hawksmoor Bridge, also known as Bridge Number 72, is a canal bridge built around 1830 by engineers Thomas Telford and Alexander Easton. It is constructed of limewashed red brick with some blue brick dressings and features an elliptical arch. The bridge has a humped-back shape, with a chamfered stone string course and a parapet that includes square end piers and rounded stone coping. The abutments are slightly battered and curved. On the towpath side, there are cast-iron corner posts that show grooves from rope haulage. This section of the canal was part of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, which was authorized by an act passed in 1826 and opened in 1835. It was later absorbed by the Ellesmere and Chester Canal in 1845 and became part of the Shropshire Union Canal in 1846. The bridge carries Rectory Lane over the canal.