Monument record MDR14185 - Bumpmill Lane and Amber River Bridge, Brackenfield/Shirland and Higham
Type and Period (1)
- RAILWAY BRIDGE (Hanoverian to Victorian - 1836 AD to 1840 AD)
Protected Status/Designation
- None recorded
Full Description
A three-span underbridge, crossing Bumpmill Lane and the River Amber, built 1836-40 for the North Midland Railway to the designs of George and Robert Stephenson with Frederick Swanwick. It is built of coursed and squared, quarry-faced Derbyshire Gritstone, with ashlar dressings. The spandrels of the arches are of red brick, patched with engineering brick. The soffits of the arches are lined with concrete. From high mileage (north) to low mileage (south), there is one span over the roadway, one span over land and one span over the River Amber. The arches and spandrels are of brick except for Gritstone keystones. The brickwork on the down (west) side is hand-made red brick laid in English bond,whilst that on the up (east) side is the same except where it is patched with engineering brick in English garden bond. Each arch has a pair of circular metal tie plates. The faces are crowned by three stepped courses of tooled ashlar, consisting of a string course and a low parapet of one deep course and one narrow course with a chamfered top edge. The string course extends at either end to form the coping of the raked wings walls, which run perpendicular to the abutments and terminate in low semi-octagonal piers. These wing walls are of coursed and squared quarry-faced Gritstone. The soffits of the arches have been lined in concrete. The arches spring from tooled ashlar impost bands. Beneath these the piers and abutments are of coursed and squared quarry-faced Gritstone. The piers are rounded on the down (west) side and form keel-shaped cutwaters on the up (east) side, each capped by a prominent ashlar block of matching profile. The bridge is one of an extended sequence of similar bridges between Derby and Chesterfield. The contract drawing for the bridge survives; drawing No. 12 in the North Midland Railway South Wingfield Contract, which includes section and elevation drawings. These indicate that Bump Mill and River Amber Bridge was originally designed to be built of stone, with red brick used only for the arch soffits. The brick facing of the arches is therefore likely to a later replacement, probably following failure of the original arches. Furthermore the spandrels of the arches have been patched with engineering brick and the soffits have been lined with concrete in the 20th century. It is due to a lack of intactness that the bridge was de-listed in May 2014. (1)
Sources/Archives (1)
- <1> SDR22095 Unpublished document: English Heritage. 2014. Advice report: Bump Mill and River Amber Bridge (SPC 8 62). Case Number 1419921.
Map
Location
Grid reference | Centred SK 3861 5816 (34m by 55m) |
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Civil Parish | BRACKENFIELD, NORTH EAST DERBYSHIRE, DERBYSHIRE |
Civil Parish | SHIRLAND AND HIGHAM, NORTH EAST DERBYSHIRE, DERBYSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (0)
External Links (0)
Record last edited
Mar 13 2017 3:59PM