Cirencester branch: Thames bridge question

Mark A

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Cirencester branch: Thames bridge question

« on: Today at 11:06:47 »

A complicated structure, being rail over road over river. It's long gone, presumably it imposed a wriggle on the road there. The culvert that carried the river Thames beneath both road and rail has survived, mind, and at some stage the railway gave its interior a lining of 1890s era blue brick. Do photos exist of the railway viaduct though, does anyone know?

Mark

https://i.postimg.cc/90Fx9FFp/cirencester-branch-thames-bridge-1000.jpg


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stuving

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Re: Cirencester branch: Thames bridge question

« Reply #1 on: Today at 12:56:44 »

Try this: https://kembleandewen-pc.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dennis-Moss-and-photographs-of-Kemble-and-1Ewen.pdf
At the end of the document are a couple of photos identified as "Kemble, the first bridge over the Thames, Clayfurlong Bridge, 1904". The road bridge looks very much like it does now, and the railway bridge is just a rather fuzzy shape in the background. However, it's clear that it (and the embankment) were very high.


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Mark A

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Re: Cirencester branch: Thames bridge question

« Reply #2 on: Today at 14:47:05 »

Thanks for this. So... a single, substantial & distinctive masonry arch. Somewhere, I've read some derogatory comment about it (the author biassed by their feelings for this modern-world intrusion into the world of the upper Thames). Perhaps it did put a kink into the road, or perhaps someone was keen to demolish it for the masonry, which elsewhere on the Cirencester branch is good stuff.

Good to have a name too: Clayfurlong bridge (marked as a viaduct on some OS^▸ maps).

(The photos are from the same negative - in the tinted one, someone's removed the figure...)

It was quite a dramatic crossing of the valley. Here's the view from upstream, the gap slightly lost in trees.

Mark


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