Grosvenor Bridge

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[edit] History

The Grosvenor Bridge was built between 1827-1833 in order to ease congestion on the Old Dee Bridge at Handbridge, which by the beginning of the 19th century was the only crossing across the River Dee in Chester. The bridge is located on the A483 Grosvenor Road. The medieval Old Dee Bridge was almost constantly congested and an alternative route was urgently required.

In 1808, Chester Corporation held a competition to select the best plans for a new bridge across the Dee. The committee was empowered to consider plans, surveys and estimates and, at its first meeting, held on 3 October 1818, the architect Thomas Harrison was requested to supply plans for a new bridge, because at that time Chester was still a shipbuilding city. The Dee is a tidal river, with the result that the water level beneath the bridge can vary significantly during the day. Thus, the new bridge needed to be high enough to allow ships to pass beneath. All plans came to a standstill until 1824, when on 17th August another public meeting was held at the Exchange, the outcome of which was an appeal to Parliament for an Act to empower the construction of a new bridge and the construction of the appropriate roads. This involved the demolition of St. Bridget's Church.

Although Harrison was appointed the chief architect for the bridge, his designs were by no means readily accepted. Harrison at first submitted a design for an iron bridge which was rejected in favour of a stone structure. Harrison put forward a design with a sing stone arch spanning an incredible 200ft. Again, this was rejected - hence the scale model which now stands near the castle was designed to counter arguments which claimed a bridge with such a large sandstone arch was not possible.

The worries of the sub committee are evident from the Dee Bridge Commissioners Minute Book:

• ".. Your committee would have been highly gratified could they have honestly recommended to your adoption a single arch of masonry. There can be no doubt that such a bridge would have been most worthy of the genius of the venerable architect, and would have best harmonised with that noble edifice, the castle. But the immense expense attending upon every part of its execution - the foundation of its abutments - the centring and the importation of the granite, of which it must be built for the freestones of our district would not bear the pressure, compels us to abandon it .."

In the event Harrison's proposal for a single arch made of sandstone was accepted, after taking into consideration his scale model.

The bridge was opened by Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld on 17 October 1832, although it did not open to traffic until November 1833 (after delay over payments to the contractor). At its opening, the Grosvenor Bridge was the greatest single-span stone arch road bridge – at 200 feet across and 60 feet high – in the world. It remained so for 30 years. The chief builder, James Trubshaw, described it as:

• "a lasting monument to the glory and superiority of Great Britain".

It was recently assessed for EU highway loadings and shows little signs of distress since it's 1834 opening during which time there have been no significant repairs or alterations.

[edit] links and sources

• Grosvenor Bridge on Wikipedia
• Grosvenor Bridge on Virtual Stroll
• Grosvenor Bridge on Structurae database
• Grosvenor Bridge on Geograph
• The Scale Model of Grosvenor Bridge