Queen's Road Railway Bridge

This section is an excerpt from Queen's Road § Northerly extension of town[edit] [history]

As a result of the opening of St Andrew's Gardens and development occurring further up the Priory Valley, the archway carrying the railway which had been constructed around 1849-1850 over the road that provided access to these areas rapidly became a dangerous bottleneck. This was replaced by an iron girder bridge with fluted columns in November 1898, the demolition taking three days to complete. The bridge received a makeover on its centenary in 1998 and on the southern footpath there is a brick bearing the original 1898 date stamp.

Planning for the archway's replacement had commenced in 1889, it being acknowledged that the narrow archway was stifling growth. Costs were estimated at a maximum of £7,000 and the corporation was to pay 6/7ths of the cost of this, capped to £6,000 .

In constructing the bridge, the railway track bed had to be raised a metre or two above the previous height in order the span could be put in place prior to demolishing the arch. This could explain the difference in level between the adjacent sidings and the current main-line track.