Railway underbridge MDL1/16, George Street, Dewsbury, Kirklees

Summary

Cast-iron beam bridge, built 1845-1847 as a railway underbridge for a lane, designed by Thomas Grainger for the Leeds, Dewsbury and Manchester Railway.

Description

Railway underbridge, 1845-1847 by Thomas Grainger for the Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway, deck strengthened late C19 by the London and North Western Railway.

MATERIALS: cast-iron, wrought iron and Pennine Lower Coal Measures Sandstone; later strengthening with brick and wrought iron.

DESCRIPTION: cast-iron beam bridge spanning a single carriageway, supported by masonry abutments with wrought-iron parapet balustrades set between ashlar end-pillars. Replacement deck of brick jack arches supported on riveted wrought-iron beams, some of the brick jack arches subsequently replaced with concrete panels. The flanking embankments are revetted with raking, curved wing-walls.

The abutments are of coursed, squared, rock-faced masonry, finished with a robust moulded ashlar cornice which supports the bridge deck. Flanking the carriageway are panelled ashlar pilasters that rise from rock-faced masonry plinths and are finished with lighter-sectioned moulded cornices above which rises the parapet end-pillars. The pilasters are slightly wider at the base than at their tops, emphasising their height. The parapet end-pillars above have corniced capstones and plain plinths. Spanning between the pillars is the iron balustrading that consists of a plain handrail supported by closely spaced balusters that have mirrored tulip-formed mid-sections, but are otherwise simple round bars. The facia beams of the bridge deck are thought to be the only surviving cast-iron beams of the original bridge, appearing to be I beams in form, embellished with raised strapwork to imitate panelling. The wing walls are of rock-faced masonry similar to that of the abutments, finished with a plain ashlar capping, and divided from the retaining walls of the rest of the embankment by simple pilaster-strips. These wing walls have been heightened in rougher masonry and brickwork.

History

In contrast to the main trunk lines of the late 1830s that were constructed by single railway companies the route from Stalybridge to Leeds had fragmented origins and was the work of three different railway companies: the Huddersfield & Manchester Railway, Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway, and the Manchester & Leeds Railway.

The Huddersfield & Manchester Railway was authorised in 1845 and followed the route of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal for much of its length, including a railway tunnel through the Pennine hills set alongside the earlier Standedge Canal Company tunnel of 1811; in 1846 the railway company also acquired the canal. Joseph Locke and Alfred Stanistreet Jee were appointed to survey and design the new line, the two engineers having already worked together on a major project linking Manchester and Sheffield. Jee became the lead engineer for the Huddersfield line, which passed through challenging terrain, assisted by resident engineers that included his brother Moreland Jee (until 1848) and Herbert F Mackworth. Construction of the line was divided into various contracts, with many contractors being only responsible for a single cutting, viaduct or tunnel portal. The largest contract for the Standedge Tunnel between Diggle and Marsden was let to a single contractor, Thomas Nicholson in 1847. The tunnel's completion in 1849 marked the opening of the line.

The Leeds end of the route, which was also authorised in 1845, was constructed by the Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway. The engineer was Thomas Grainger who had previously largely worked in Scotland, and the line was completed in 1849.

A short three-mile section of the route between Heaton Lodge Junction and Thornhill Junction near Mirfield was developed by the Manchester & Leeds Railway and was constructed between 1837 and 1840, with George Stephenson as the chief engineer. The structures on this line were designed by Thomas Gooch under the oversight of Stephenson. In 1847 the railway company changed its name to the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.

In 1847 the Huddersfield & Manchester Railway and the Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway were acquired by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) so that the company could access the city of Leeds and the textile towns of West Yorkshire. This pitted them as rivals to the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, although at points on the route the two companies had to work together. By 1851 the London & North Western Railway had an overall mileage of railway track of 800 miles and it became the most prominent railway company in the country and the largest joint-stock concern in the world in the late C19. Although the LNWR had a general manager, Captain Mark Huish, the lines of the Stalybridge to Leeds route still managed their own affairs. LNWR later carried out expansion works, including the widening of tracks and bridges, the construction of additional tunnels, and station alterations. In 1923 the line became part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway, and subsequently part of the nationalised British Railways in 1948.

George Street Bridge, a railway underbridge, was built as part of the original construction of the Dewsbury and Manchester Railway between 1845-1847. The 1852 1:1,056 town plan marks the bridge and an earlier name for the street, Gas House Lane.

George Street Bridge is one of three very similar bridges all built along a 400m length of the line, all being cast-iron, level beam bridges. Cast-iron beams were very widely used for early railway bridges, their use dramatically declining for new bridges following the Dee Bridge Disaster of 1847. Subsequent bridge failures such as Inverythan, Aberdeenshire (1882) and Norwood Junction, London (1891) led to the wholesale replacement of cast-iron bridges carrying railway lines, with some examples, such as George Street, being retained with replaced, strengthened decks. The current deck, which is of jack arches supported on riveted wrought-iron beams, is consistent with later-C19 practice and is thought to have been constructed by the LNWR, the concrete panels replacing some of the brick jack arches being much more recent.

The designer of the bridge, the civil engineer for the Dewsbury and Manchester Railway, was Thomas Grainger (1794-1852). He had been a leading advocate and designer of early railways in Scotland from 1823 onwards, but worked on a number of Yorkshire railways in the 1840s until his death following a railway accident in 1852.

Reasons for Listing

George Street bridge (MDL1/16), a cast iron level beam bridge constructed in the mid-1840s by Thomas Grainger for the Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:
* constructed during the heroic age of railway building, being a rare surviving example of a cast iron level beam bridge, a form very widely used up until the late 1840s;
* designed by the notable Scottish railway engineer Thomas Grainger;
* the later replacement deck incorporating wrought iron beams is a good example of the way that cast iron bridges were strengthened in the later C19.

Architectural interest:
* although it is a minor accommodation bridge, the inclusion of features such as ashlar pilasters and cornices with embellishment also extended to the ironwork lifts the design above the purely functional.

Group value:
* one of a sequence of three bridges (Toad Holes (MDL1/12), Ming Hill (MDL1/14) and George Street (MDL1/16)) all sharing a common design language within a relatively short length of line.

External Links

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