Gasworks Bridge
Coordinates51°44′47″N 1°15′49″W / 51.746252°N 1.263636°W / 51.746252; -1.263636
CarriesFootpath
CrossesRiver Thames
LocaleOxford
Characteristics
MaterialIron
Height12 feet 2 inches (3.71 m)[1]
No. of spans2
Piers in water1
History
Opened1886
Location

The Gasworks Bridge, also known as the Old Gasworks Bridge, is an iron bridge across the River Thames at Oxford in England. 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 by the Oxford & District Gas Company in 1886[2] for 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; 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,[3] and the Environment Agency refers to the bridge simply as "Road Bridge",[4] although no road now crosses it. The bridge is now usually referred to by its old name.[5] It has occasionally been referred to as Osney Footbridge,[6] although the bridge is some distance from Osney, and that name is also used for a different bridge.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ River Thames Alliance. Bridge heights on the River Thames.
  2. ↑ Woolley, Liz (2012). Oxford's Working Past. Oxford: Huxley Scientific Press. pp. 22–4. ISBN 978-0-9522671-7-1.
  3. ↑ Curl, James Stevens (1977). The Erosion of Oxford. Oxford Illustrated Press Ltd. p. 117. ISBN 0-902280-40-6.
  4. ↑ Environment Agency: Users Guide to the Thames, p.41
  5. ↑ For example, by the leader of Oxford City Council ("My hidden Oxford") Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, by Sustrans Archived 18 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine and by Cyclox Archived 25 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Oxford Times 19 Aug 2010
  7. ↑ The Osney Lane bridge in Geograph
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