Walton Bridge No 104

BERKSWICH

603/0/10059 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WORCESTERSHIRE CANAL 15-OCT-09 Walton Bridge No 104

II Canal bridge, No. 104. Early to mid-C19 for the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.

MATERIAL: Random bond brick, copings of sandstone, engineering brick and concrete.

DESCRIPTION: This single span bridge has a wide, shallow elliptical arch spanning the canal and towpath. It has a plain parapet with blue brick coping. Both the west and east faces have oval cast-iron plaques bearing the name and number. The south abutments terminate in stone-coped square piers and there are straight retaining walls at right angles to the north end of the bridge, also terminating in brick piers of square section.

HISTORY: The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (SWC) was one of the earliest canals, constructed under an Act of 1766 and opened fully for traffic in 1772. Devised by James Brindley, the canal runs for 46½ miles between Great Haywood, where it joins the Trent & Mersey Canal (completed 1777) to Stourport where it connects with the River Severn. The canal forms one of the arms of Brindley's `Grand Cross', a scheme to link the Rivers Trent, Mersey, Thames and Severn, and was the first of the arms to be completed. Documentary and stylistic evidence indicates that Walton Bridge is a later addition to the canal and dates from the early to mid-C19.

SOURCES: Victoria County History, A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 5: East Cuttlestone Hundred (1959) 1-11 J. Ian Langford, Towpath Guide for the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (1974), 39

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Walton Bridge (No.104) on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Despite some minor repairs, it is a substantially intact canal structure of the early to mid-C19 * It is of historic interest in the context of both the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and as part of the national waterways system of the late C18 and early C19