Bridges

[pommie lass]

Still on the subject of bridges, I am getting confused.  Is the bridge on Knutsford Road still called the cantilever and is the swing bridge a different one.  Can't remember how many bridges there were after so long. 

[asperity]

Cantilever bridge is in Latchford, the Knutsford Road bridge is a swing bridge as are Chester Road and London Road bridges.

[Dizzy]

The Cantilever is the high fixed bridge just up from Knutsford Road swing bridge Pommie.  Do you have access to google street view as you can wander around warrington's streets and see how it is.  Some street views are a few years old now but a lot along the main roads are less than a year old as they have recently been updated.

I'm stood under the Cantilever bridge on theis view of you click

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3765017,-2.5664659,3a,75y,299.19h,99.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sOHDHzD5tUnFITrr_i69M6w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Gary]

The Cantilever Bridge is the one which over looks the home of the mighty FA Cup giant killers Warrington Town FC

[pommie lass]

So the Knutsford Road one is the swing bridge.  Is the cantilever bridge the one near the top of Thelwall Lane?

[Dizzy]

Yes the Knutsford Road one is the swing bridge.  The high level Cantilever Bridge (shown in my link above on street view which you can do a virtual 'walk' around the area on) goes from Ackers Road on the south side of the Manchester Ship Canal to Station Road on the North side.  It crosses Fairfield Road just where the sharp bend is heading towards Ackers Road.

Thelwall Lane is off Kingsway South and not next to either of the bridges unless you mean Thelwall New Lane as that is on the right of Knutsford Road swing bridge and runs parallel to the Manchester Ship Cana', past Latchford Locks and on to Thelwall.

Does this aerial view help (you can zoom in and out)

Looking from the left on first click is Stockton Heath swing bridge makrd as on Wilderspool Causeway (but actually called Northwich Road swing bridge).  Next going to the right is The Cantilever high level bridge off Ackers Road/Station Road.  Then next going to the right is the swing bridge at Latchford (called Knutsford Road swing bridge).

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3755253,-2.5694596,1184m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[Dizzy]

This might be better, an old photo from 1928 showing The Cantilever Bridge (bottom), and going up the Knutsord Road swing bridge at Latchford, then the old now unused high level railway bridge then Latchfrod Locks in the distance.

 

 

Have you finally got your bearings now Pommie

[pommie lass]

Thanks for that Dizzy.  It is much clearer now.  I was thinking of the old railway bridge not far from the locks.  I just hadn't heard of Thelwall New Lane.  We always called it all just Thelwall Lane.  The one at Stockton Heath we just called Stockton Heath Bridge and I remember it very well. Was the proper name always Northwich Road swing bridge?   It wasn't all that far from my school.  

[SusanW]

For Pommie, just to clarify on names;

 

The original Thelwall Road started from its junction with Knutsford Road in Latchford and ran eastwards, dipping slightly southwards at its junction with Bradshaw Lane and then continuing to Thelwall village. It can be made out quite clearly on the Cheshire Tithe map from the 1830s (http://maps.cheshire.gov.uk/tithemaps/), as well as on early OS maps (http://maps.nls.uk/view/102340999).

 

All was fine until they built the Manchester Ship Canal which cut right through this road close to that junction with Bradshaw Lane. So, they constructed Thelwall New Road on the south running parallel to the Canal to meet Knutsford Road at the swing bridge in Latchford. The surviving part of the original road in Latchford then became Thelwall Lane, running down to Latchford Locks.

 

Hope all that makes sense!

[pommie lass]

Hi SusanW.   I have just looked at the google map and can see that Thelwall Lane and Thelwall New Rd are on opposite sides of the canal.  Not having a very good sense of direction I thought Dizzy was saying that part of Thelwall Lane (the part that runs down close to the locks) was called Thelwall New Rd as I hadn't been aware that Thelwall New Rd existed unless I'd just forgotten about it.   Thank you for helping to clear up my confusion. 

[SusanW]

Hello Pommie. I was very happy to help on that one. We all know that the building of the MSC was a huge undertaking, but it really hits home when you look at old maps and think about the construction work required. Looking at the line of the canal after the relatively easy stretch across open country at Lymm and Thelwall, they had to:

 

* construct locks at Latchford

* build a railway bridge to get the Warrington/Stockport line over the canal

* change the alignment of Knutsford Road so as to put a swing bridge over at Latchford (you can still see the old alignment: Knutsford Old Rd on the south bank matches to existing Knutsford Rd on the north)

* construct the Cantilever Bridge to allow the Ackers Road crossing point.

* another swing bridge at Stockton Heath for the London Road

* a third swing bridge at Walton for the road to Chester

* carry more railway lines over the canal at Walton

 

Phew! That's a lot of work, particularly when you consider the tools and machinery then available to assist construction.

[pommie lass]

That IS all pretty amazing SusanW.

I had never thought about all the work that went into it. 

[pommie lass]

Hi again SusanW,  I had never realised there was an Old Knutsford Rd but just looked at the map and sure enough, there it is.   Thanks for the extra info. 

[SusanW]

Hello Pommie,

Yes, I knew about Old Knutsford Road from my Dad (sadly now not with us) who explained the alterations made to the road on one occasion when we were driving to town from Lymm. He would know the road as it's where the Fir Grove Hotel is (pre-dates the canal) - the venue for my parent's wedding reception in 1949.

 

Funnily enough, I have just this week been engaged in an online conversation with a distant cousin who is interested in the MSC. He doesn't live locally and made a special research visit to Lymm to see where his ancestors lived and worked. He walked down Reddish Lane and got to the banks of the canal and was quite impressed by it all. One of his ancestors, originally from Somerset, came to the area to work on the construction of the 'Big Ditch'. The family resided in Lymm and father and 2 grown up sons were employed in labouring jobs. One son met and married a local girl (she was the daughter of a half-brother of my gg grandfather - hence we are cousins). The bride had a brother who was also a "Ship Canal Labourer" in 1891, so that's probably how she met her future husband. It is just mind-boggling to think of all these men digging away in this huge and very dangerous hole in the ground!