Tate's Avenue Bridge, Belfast, Co Antrim

Tate's Avenue Bridge, Belfast

Tate's Avenue Bridge is a brick and metal multi-span road bridge erected in 1926 by Belfast Corporation to carry Tate's Avenue over the main Belfast to Dublin railway line. It also crosses Fane Street and Northbrook Avenue just to the east of the railway span, and Donegall Avenue to the west. The bridge is flanked along both sides by terraces of red brick houses. Structurally, it is an excellent example of steel girder and brick jack arch construction, and despite its essentially utilitarian character it incorporates a degree of decorative embellishment, particularly in its parapet piers and scrolled brackets at the open spans. Its large scale and raised approaches to the north and south make it a well-known local landmark. Prior to its construction, Tate's Avenue crossed the railway — a line dating from 1839 — on a level crossing, which is shown on the 1920 Ordnance Survey map. Dated plaques on the parapets confirm the year of erection as 1926, and the bridge appears by name on the 1931 Ordnance Survey map and all subsequent editions.

The structure is aligned approximately east to west and measures 422 yards (386 metres) from one end of its ramped approach to the other. The two-lane carriageway is separated from footpaths on each side by a modern galvanised metal crash barrier.

For descriptive purposes the bridge divides into nine sections, beginning at the Lisburn Road (east) end. Unless noted otherwise, the north and south faces are identical throughout.

Section 1 is a solid ramped approach faced on each side with red brick. The brickwork rises in line with the road gradient and is accentuated by a gentler-sloping projecting base course trimmed with chamfered purple brick. The parapets are also of red brick, bounded at each end by square intermediate brick piers rising from the base course and similarly accentuated with chamfered purple brickwork at their bases. Each parapet section, which steps in line with the road slope, contains three recessed rectangular panels also trimmed with purple brick. Both piers and parapets are coped with concrete. Metal plates on top of the piers were probably used to affix lamp standards, which have long since been removed.

Section 2 has sides of red brick, but the space beneath the road deck is hollow, divided by a red brick wall running longitudinally down the middle between the two side walls. Further brick walls run at right angles between the side walls at regular intervals, creating eight sub-sections. The rooms formed on either side of the central longitudinal wall are accessible through doorways in the side walls and were lit by windows, most of which are now infilled with concrete blockwork. The deck is carried on jack arches running transversely between the three brick walls. These arches are cantilevered beyond the side walls to carry the footpaths above. The arches consist of steel I-beams with small purple brick arches between them. A pair of such beams sits directly below each parapet pier, resting on top of the transverse brick walls. Some of the steelwork is embossed with the maker's name: "D Colville & Sons Ltd, Glengarnock, Scotland." The ends of these beams extend beyond the arches and probably once carried utility pipes, now removed; however, along the north side they have been cut back flush with the ends of the jack arches, except where they now support modern lamp standards. Towards the west end of the south face, a modern steel dogleg staircase connects ground level to deck level. This is a replacement of an original flight and exits at road level through a pair of metal piers in the lattice metal parapet (described below). The projecting ends of the jack-arch I-beams have been cut back here to accommodate the new staircase. There are no corresponding stairs on the north side of this section.

Section 3 carries the road over Fane Street and Northbrook Avenue as a single metal-girder span comprising two riveted metal beams, between which sit two slightly deeper ones. The ends of the two inner beams rest on concrete pillow blocks on top of brick abutments. The ends of the outer beams rest on welded metal beams — possibly hollow and filled with concrete — supported on pairs of massive scrolled metal brackets projecting from the ends of the abutments. Steel-sheeted jack arches are laid transversely across the tops of all four beams, over which the deck is laid. Braced metal brackets are fixed to the outer faces of the side beams and formerly supported service ducts.

Section 4 comprises three spans, each made up of three longitudinal steel I-beams resting on concrete blocks over brick piers running between the side walls. These piers project slightly beyond the side walls, which are of brick to their lower halves but fenestrated in their upper halves, the openings filled with expanded metal panels rather than glazing. As in Section 2, the footpaths are cantilevered on purple brick jack arches of the same detailing, and the I-beams also project beyond. A modern dogleg steel staircase runs up the north side of this section; the jack-arch beams have again been cut back to accommodate it. This is a modern insertion — there was never a staircase at this point originally, as evidenced by the fact that the parapet has been cut back to provide access at the top.

Section 5 is a single span over the railway, comprising two deep riveted steel I-beams whose ends rest on concrete pillow blocks on top of the abutments. Between them run shallower I-beams, through the tops of which run even smaller I-beams set parallel to the two principal beams, on which the deck has been laid. As in Section 3, brackets on the outer faces of the side beams formerly carried service ducts.

Section 6 is detailed as Section 4 but has only two spans.

Section 7 carries the road over Donegall Avenue as a single metal girder span detailed as Section 3. Modern welded metal sculptures have been placed on top of the scrolled brackets on both faces, and murals depicting local historical scenes have been painted on the abutments. These artworks were installed in 2010 and 2011 as part of an Arts Council-sponsored project entitled "Re-Imaging Communities."

Section 8 comprises two sub-sections with a solid brick curtain wall along both sides. Whether it is internally detailed as Section 3 or Section 5 could not be confirmed at the time of survey as there was no access to the internal spaces; one of the internal rooms is in use as a playgroup. Modern steel staircases serve both sides: that on the north side is a replacement of an original staircase, while that on the south side is a new addition.

Section 9 is a solid ramp detailed as Section 1, but its parapet is divided into 21 parts. Unlike Section 1, there is no terminal pier at its end.

The parapets vary in character across the bridge. Sections 1 and 9 have brick parapets as already described. Section 5, over the railway, has a solid metal parapet between large concrete-coped brick piers, fabricated from smaller panels embossed with decorative lines on their road faces. The parapets to the remaining sections are of lattice metalwork with a serrated cast-metal handrail, with intermediate welded metal piers — probably hollow and filled with concrete — carrying raised and fielded oval motifs on their inner and outer faces. Some piers are also embossed "The Millfield Foundry Belfast 1926," either at the outer bottom or inner top. Sections 3 and 7, over the roads, have more substantial piers with rectangular motifs, carried on cantilevered beams supported on pairs of massive scrolled cast-metal brackets.

The contractor for the bridge was H & J Martin. The steel beams were manufactured and supplied by David Colville and Sons' Glengarnock Works in North Ayrshire, Scotland, and the parapets were produced by the Millfield Foundry in Belfast. The bridge was refurbished by DRD Roads Service in 2013. A series of photographs published in J. Baker's Snapshots of Belfast 1925–29 documents the progress of its construction from the laying of the foundations through to completion. The bridge is also discussed in Cox and Gould's Civil Engineering Heritage Ireland (Thomas Telford, 1998).