Gasworks Bridge

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Gasworks Bridge
Berkshire, Oxfordshire
GasworksBridge.jpg
Location
Carrying: Footpath
Crossing: River Thames
Location
Grid reference: SP50940552
Location: 51°44’46"N, 1°15’49"W
Structure
Material: Iron
History
Built 1886
Information

The Gasworks Bridge, also known as the Old Gasworks Bridge, is an iron bridge across the River Thames at Oxford, joining the Oxfordshire ban of the river to the Berkshire bank, within the city. It is a pedestrian bridge linking St Ebbes to the Grandpont nature reserve. It crosses the river on the reach between Iffley Lock and Osney Lock.

The bridge was constructed as a railway bridge, built by the Oxford & District Gas Company in 1886[1] to carry a short railway branch line to carry coal to the gas works from the main Cherwell Valley Line at a junction just south of Osney Rail Bridge. The bridge was built by assembling sections on the south bank of the river and floating them into position. The gas works was demolished in 1960 and no evidence of the railway line is visible on the footbridge.

Since the demolition of the gas works, other names have been used for the bridge. For a few years after the closure of the railway it appears to have been crossed by a private road,[2] and the Environment Agency refers to the bridge simply as "Road Bridge", although no road now crosses it. The bridge is now usually referred to by its old name. It has occasionally been referred to as 'Osney Footbridge',[3] although the bridge is some distance from Osney, and that name is also used for a different bridge.[4]

See also

Outside links

References

  1. Woolley, Liz (2012). Oxford's Working Past. Oxford: Huxley Scientific Press. pp. 22-4. ISBN 978-0-9522671-7-1. 
  2. Curl, James Stevens (1977). The Erosion of Oxford. Oxford Illustrated Press Ltd. p. 117. ISBN 0-902280-40-6. 
  3. Oxford Times 19 Aug 2010
  4. The Osney Lane bridge in Geograph


Bridges and crossings on the River Thames
Medley Footbridge Osney Bridge Osney Rail Bridge Gasworks Bridge Grandpont Bridge Folly Bridge Donnington Bridge