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Grosvenor Bridge (Chester)

 

 
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Grosvenor Bridge (Chester)
 
 
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The Grosvenor Bridge is a single-span arch
Arch bridge

An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side....
 road bridge constructed from stone. It crosses the River Dee
River Dee, Wales

The River Dee is a river. It travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between them.The river source in Snowdonia, Wales, flows north via Chester, England, and discharges to the sea into an estuary between Wales and the Wirral Peninsula ....
 at Chester
Chester

Chester is the county town of Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, Wales, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider local government district of the Chester , which had a population of 118,210 according to the United Kingdom Census 2001....
 in England. The bridge is located on the A483 Grosvenor Road . Views upriver from the bridge include Chester castle
Chester Castle

Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the Chester city walls ....
 and Handbridge
Handbridge

Handbridge is a small district of Chester, England on the south bank of the River Dee, Wales. A settlement has existed on the site since the Iron age, but the site saw major expansion during the collapse of the Roman occupation of Britain, as the city grew too large for its city walls....
. The view downstream from the bridge encompasses the impressive mansions of Curzon Park
Curzon Park

The Chester suburb of Curzon Park is a highly attractive residential area South of the River River Dee, Wales situated within easy walking distance of the ancient Ancient Rome and medieval city walls, just across the famous Grosvenor Bridge ....
 and the adjacent Roodee. The Dee is a tidal
Tide

Tides are the rising of Earth's ocean surface caused by the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun acting on the oceans. Tides cause changes in the depth of the marine and estuary water bodies and produce oscillating currents known as tidal streams, making prediction of tides important for coastal navigation ....
 river, with the result that the water level beneath the bridge can vary significantly during the day.

The bridge was designed by Thomas Harrison
Thomas Harrison (architect)

Thomas Harrison was an English architect and engineer. He built a number of bridges, including Grosvenor Bridge in Chester. He also rebuilt parts of Chester Castle and Lancaster Castle castles....
, and was opened by Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom....
 on 17 October 1832, although it was not open to traffic until November 1833.






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The Grosvenor Bridge is a single-span arch
Arch bridge

An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side....
 road bridge constructed from stone. It crosses the River Dee
River Dee, Wales

The River Dee is a river. It travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between them.The river source in Snowdonia, Wales, flows north via Chester, England, and discharges to the sea into an estuary between Wales and the Wirral Peninsula ....
 at Chester
Chester

Chester is the county town of Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, Wales, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider local government district of the Chester , which had a population of 118,210 according to the United Kingdom Census 2001....
 in England. The bridge is located on the A483 Grosvenor Road . Views upriver from the bridge include Chester castle
Chester Castle

Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the Chester city walls ....
 and Handbridge
Handbridge

Handbridge is a small district of Chester, England on the south bank of the River Dee, Wales. A settlement has existed on the site since the Iron age, but the site saw major expansion during the collapse of the Roman occupation of Britain, as the city grew too large for its city walls....
. The view downstream from the bridge encompasses the impressive mansions of Curzon Park
Curzon Park

The Chester suburb of Curzon Park is a highly attractive residential area South of the River River Dee, Wales situated within easy walking distance of the ancient Ancient Rome and medieval city walls, just across the famous Grosvenor Bridge ....
 and the adjacent Roodee. The Dee is a tidal
Tide

Tides are the rising of Earth's ocean surface caused by the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun acting on the oceans. Tides cause changes in the depth of the marine and estuary water bodies and produce oscillating currents known as tidal streams, making prediction of tides important for coastal navigation ....
 river, with the result that the water level beneath the bridge can vary significantly during the day.

The bridge was designed by Thomas Harrison
Thomas Harrison (architect)

Thomas Harrison was an English architect and engineer. He built a number of bridges, including Grosvenor Bridge in Chester. He also rebuilt parts of Chester Castle and Lancaster Castle castles....
, and was opened by Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom....
 on 17 October 1832, although it was not open to traffic until November 1833. At the time of its construction, the bridge was the longest single-span arch bridge in the world, a title that it retained for 30 years. It is a Grade I listed building
Listed building

A listed building in the United Kingdom is a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance....
.

History


Design

At the beginning of the 19th century, Chester only had one river crossing, a narrow medieval
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 bridge at Handbridge
Handbridge

Handbridge is a small district of Chester, England on the south bank of the River Dee, Wales. A settlement has existed on the site since the Iron age, but the site saw major expansion during the collapse of the Roman occupation of Britain, as the city grew too large for its city walls....
, the Old Dee Bridge
Old Dee Bridge

The Old Dee Bridge, in Chester, Cheshire, England is the oldest bridge in the city. It leads from the bottom of Lower Bridge Street and the Bridge gate across the River Dee, Wales to Handbridge....
. The bridge was heavily congested, delaying movement through the town. However, building a new bridge was prohibitively expensive until Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford was born in Langholm, Scotland, UK. He was a stonemason, architect and civil engineer and a noted road, bridge and canal builder....
 proposed building a new road between Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is home to 70,689 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement of the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham, which has a population of 95,850....
 and the Irish
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 ferries
Ferry

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
 at Holyhead
Holyhead

Holyhead is the List of Anglesey towns by population in the county of Anglesey in the north west of Wales.Although it is the largest town in the county, with a population of 11,237 , it is neither the county town nor actually on the island of Anglesey....
, to facilitate trade between the two islands. As the route would have bypassed Chester, greatly reducing the potential income from the lucrative Irish trade routes, a committee was appointed to consider plans for a new bridge to quicken movement across the city and encourage traders to continue to stop at Chester.

A design by renowned architect Thomas Harrison
Thomas Harrison (architect)

Thomas Harrison was an English architect and engineer. He built a number of bridges, including Grosvenor Bridge in Chester. He also rebuilt parts of Chester Castle and Lancaster Castle castles....
 was chosen. Chester was at the time a major shipbuilding city, and a very tall arch, high and wide, was required to allow ships to pass underneath. This was the largest arch in the world, and the chief builder, James Trubshaw
James Trubshaw

James Trubshaw was an English builder, architect and civil engineer. His civil engineering works include the construction of the Grosvenor Bridge in Chester, Cheshire, then the longest stone span....
, described this as "a lasting monument to the glory and superiority of Great Britain".

Construction

The bridge was originally to be built between Chester Castle
Chester Castle

Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the Chester city walls ....
 and Wrexham
Wrexham

Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham , and the largest town in North Wales, located to the east of the region....
 Road. However, the ground here was soft, and Harrison was concerned that the mud would not be able to support the weight of the piers. Eventually, Thomas Telford found a drier area of land downstream, and the construction was moved to this site. In order to accommodate the move of the bridge, Wrexham Road was split into two, with one lane becoming a dead end, and the other turning to meet the bridge. The first stone of the bridge was laid by the Marquess of Westminster
Duke of Westminster

The title Duke of Westminster was created by Victoria of the United Kingdom in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, the 3rd Marquess of Westminster....
 on 1 October 1827, and construction work took six years.

The bridge was formally opened by Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom....
 and her daughter, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent (later to become Queen Victoria), who were driven through a triumphal arch
Triumphal arch

A triumphal arch is a structure in the shape of a monumental arch, in theory built to celebrate a victory in war, actually used to celebrate a ruler....
 in the middle of the unfinished bridge to a 21-gun salute
21-gun salute

Gun salutes are the firing of cannons or arms as a honor.The custom originates in naval tradition, where a warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent....
 on 17 October 1832. The bridge was not completed however until November 1833, and a toll was imposed on the bridge to pay the £50,000 construction costs, a large sum at the time. The toll was however harmful to trade in the city, and toll-fees were abolished in 1885, when maintenance was transferred to the Chester Corporation. However, Thomas Harrison never lived to see his bridge being completed, nor being opened by the Princess. He died in 1829, and the work was finished by his pupil, William Cole.

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