Rolling Bridge Over Ulverston Canal And Associated Accumulator Tower

MATERIALS: The bridge is built of iron and steel, the accumulator tower of brick with sandstone dressing beneath a slate roof.

RAILWAY BRIDGE: The bridge consists of three sections each of which carry the railway track. Two of the sections are static and project into the water a short distance from the canal's north and south banks, while the central section comprises what was formerly a moveable subsidiary framework. Metal piles sunk into the canal bed support the bridge and framework where required. Railings and fencing run along the edges of the bridge and a metal-floored pedestrian walkway runs along the west side of the bridge. A series of wooden marker piles and rubbing strakes remain in the canal and formerly acted as a navigation guide for boats negotiating a passage between the retracted bridge. The infilled dock lies immediately to the South.

ACCUMULATOR TOWER: Exterior: The accumulator tower stands close to the south bank of the canal a short distance to the east of the bridge. It is square in plan and is of two storeys with a tall upper storey. There are doorways in the north and south walls and two narrow segmental arched blocked windows above an elongated sandstone lintel in the east wall at ground floor level. The upper floor has pairs of tall, narrow ventilation slots above single stone lintels on all elevations except the west, and at gable height on the tower's north elevation there are three narrow ventilation slots above a single stone lintel. The top of the north elevation is finished with stone copings. There is also a stone lintel at gable height on the south elevation with evidence of former ventilation slots above, but most of the outer of two layers of brickwork here has fallen from the wall above the lintel.

Interior: All machinery and equipment has been removed from the interior. Timber beams support a stone floor at first floor level. A timber ladder affixed to the wall gives access from the ground floor to the first floor via a square hole in the floor. The upper floor is open to roof height. Just below the apex of the roof there is a broad timber beam set into the walls and running the full length of the building.