Bridges over the New
Cut &
North Dock, Swansea
Built
in 1843 for pedestrians, horse-riders and horse-drawn carts and carriages,
the first road bridge across the New Cut consisted of two steel sections
that swung apart to allow sailing ships to pass through. The bridge was
opened and closed by means of hand-operated winches, one on either side of
the New Cut. Some years later, around 1851, a wooden double-bascule railway
bridge was constructed to convey patent fuel across the New Cut from
Warlich’s fuel works in St. Thomas to the North Dock for shipment. These two
bridges can be seen in the first photograph on the following page.
A
drawbridge known as the ‘Pottery Bridge’ across the upper lock of the North
Dock was already established by 1850, and in 1851 a low-level drawbridge was
installed by the Millbrook Iron Company across the lower lock entrance. In
1857 the Midland Railway drawbridge was erected across the upper end of the
New Cut, and in 1873 the high-level Vale of Neath Railway drawbridges
spanning the New Cut and the lower North Dock lock entrance were constructed
by Wm. Armstrong & Co. of Newcastle upon Tyne.
By 1866 the original road and
rail bridges across the New Cut had come to the end of their useful lives,
and tenders were put out by the Swansea Harbour Trust for the provision of a
new 22’ wide road & rail drawbridge to replace these obsolete structures.
Opened on the 18th October 1867, the new drawbridge saw 30 years
service before being replaced by a 45’ wide swingbridge in 1897. The new
swingbridge, designed by the Harbour Trust’s engineer A. O. Schenk, was
constructed by Andrew Handyside & Co. of Derby at a cost of £20,000. The
operating machinery was supplied by Wm. Armstrong & Co. for £5,000, and
included a high-pressure hot water system to prevent the bridge mechanism
from freezing up during the winter months. This swingbridge, pictured on the
following page, spanned the New Cut for over 60 years until replaced in the
early 1960’s by the lower of the two road bridges we see today.
Finally,
the original low-level drawbridge across the lower North Dock lock entrance
was replaced in 1903 with a new drawbridge constructed by Andrew Handyside &
Co. at a cost of £9,000. It is this bridge – busy with trams, cars, horses,
lorries and handcarts – that can be seen in many of the photographs on the
following page. It is interesting to note that the operating machinery for
all these bridges, apart from the first two mentioned, was hydraulically
powered – that is to say, driven by high-pressure water provided by a
central hydraulic pumping station.
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