Bridging the gap.

 The next day was neither dull, nor bright, and it couldn't make up its mind whether to rain or not either. We had to go as we had a schedule, so off we went.

Three locks down and we come to Longford Bridge. In the distance through the arch you can just make out the M6 Bridge. 

This section of canal almost looks as if it is running through park lands of a big house. That is because it was! Teddesley Hall was built by the Littleton Family in 1754. In 1835 the family were knighted and he became Lord Hatherton and he must of become rich, or richer, from all the coal etc found below his various properties in the area. (Including Littleton Colliery from the last blog). The house was no longer needed after 1930 and became a POW camp for 200 Germans in WWII. It was then to become the HQ for the regional Health Board, but that never happened and the property was demolished in 1953.

Park Gate Bridge is photogenically all you would expect from a canal bridge and lock. Neat towpath and offside. White painted arch and a stone set horse path up to the lock with a dribble of water from the gates. Lovely, shame it isn't sunny too.

As you approach Acton Trussell you glimpse St James' church on its own, outside the village. The original church was built in the 13th Century but like many it was enlarged and rebuilt in 1869, the work designed by G.E. Street, who also designed the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Before this rebuild the church had been closed for more than 40 years. In 1985 the remains of a Roman villa were found and subsequent work has taken habitation from the neolithic to the 4th Century.

The canal was driven through part of the moat of the old moated manor house. Acton Trussell was in the Domeday Book, but although it is an apparent affluent commuter village there are little of no shops to be found. There is Acton Moat Bridge just ahead of the boat when this picture was taken and the moat is now in the grounds of the Moat House Hotel, with a pub in the oldest part of the building. Maybe worth a walk next time we are passing.

Stafford Boat Club is built on a disused arm that once went a short distance to a brick works from around the mid 1800's but was gone by the end of WWII.

After the roar of the traffic over the Radford A34 bridge it becomes all quiet again as Baswich Bridge. The 'wich' in Baswich should tell you that there was a salt works here as well as a spa in Stafford. A thick bed of salt was discovered laying below Stafford Common and the baths were built by the river. It was opened in 1892 and demolished in 1977. Stafford Common is to the north of Stafford so the brine was piped right through the centre of town to supply the spa baths and the salt works. A Salt works opened near the common in 1893 and in Baswich 1894, just to the north of the railway line. In 1948 a factory started using the vacuum method of production rather than the open pan method. The old factory became to expensive and was closed in 1957. As Stafford had expanded and brine extraction was causing serious subsidence its extraction was banned in 1970!

Another very photogenic bridge that looks like a turn-over one. The railway line is right next to the canal at this spot, and just beyond is the busy A513, but until a train comes past you could be miles away from the rush of modern life.

Since Baswich, where the Rivers Penk and Sow joined the Sow has been supreme. The aqueduct that crosses over it has good views up and down the river and the autumn colours will be lovely. We are just a week early but still it is a special place, and worth a return to.

Tixall Lock and Old Hall Bridge along with the lock keepers house and wharf on the off side, complete with crane make this spot another delight of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.

When passing through Tixall Wide, or as it used to be called Broad Water the old Gatehouse of Tixall Hall is always photographed. However there are several other buildings that can just about be seen from the water. This one is Tixall Farm and was built at the end of the 1700's/early 1800's and is a classci model farm of the time Through the coach arch is the entrance to the quadrangle enclosed by the barns etc on the outside. There were some buildings in the quadrangle but they were demolished when the whole thing was sold for residential development. They would be neat flats. There are 17 bays along the road. The last 5 to the right are a wonderful brick Dutch Barn.

Just by the farm can be seen the roof of the Bottle Lodge at the end of the carriageway that connects Tixall and Great Haywood. Once known as the, less glamorous, Upper Lodge, it was home for tor the shepherd and his wife in the 1800's. Even better their children had to sleep over the road in the other farm buildings! It just has one room on each level. Tixall looks to be another place I will have to have a walk around.

In December 1847 the Trent Valley Railway opened fully for goods and passenger traffic. This was a line that was designed to reduce the distance and time between London and the NW of England and hence to Ireland, north and south. It had been started in November 1845 by a new company the Trent Valley Railway. A year later that company had been taken over by the London and Birmingham Railway Co, and just a month later they amalgamated with several other companies to form the London and North Western Railway Co. In a report of May 1847 there was a report on the progress of the line. It stated that other than the tunnel at Shugborough the main engineering was crossing the Staffs. and Worcs. Canal and the River Penk and its flood plain. They had done this using a wooden viaduct that raised the line above the water by 25 'to 30' for a distance of about 150 yards. The whole structure was said to remarkable in its strength and solidity, and from a distance has a light and elegant appearance. The whole thing had taken 40,000 cu ft. of timber and there was some difficulty in finding a solid footing for the piles. The whole thing had cost £7,000.

The first Baswich Railway Viaduct, opened in 1847. Note the pile drivers

All went as it should until Wednesday 25th September 1858 and the down goods train driver saw that there was a small fire on the viaduct and stopped at the Queensville level crossing as he cleared it and informed a policeman, who in turn roused the plate layer lengthsman. He made haste to the bridge an quickly realised that there was little he could do on his own. On the way back towards Stafford he met a pilot engine with an inspector and a gang of men who had been alerted by the first driver when he had arrived at Stafford. When they arrived at the scene the hand rails on the bridge were alight in three places, but no flames were seen on the track bed. The gang of men did all they could but there was a strong SW'ly wind blowing and the fire was below them. The structure was wooden and soaked in creosote. The fire rapidly spread across the structure. By now the fire engines had arrived, one from the Norwich Union Co and the other the Stafford Municipal fire engine. They concentrated at the southern end where there was access. They played their hoses at the underneath of the spans across the River Penk and the canal. In they end they managed to save the canal crossing only. The showers of sparks and flames rose high into the sky and could be seen ten miles away. By 06:30 the beams had plunged to the ground and into the water leaving a few charred stumps and the metal rails suspended above the gaps. 

The newspapers managed to make a great story out of the goods train driver who reported the fire. His names was Thompson and it claimed that he had seen the flames when he cleared Shugbrough tunnel and ploughed on, crossing the bridge through rising flames and beams collapsing as he crossed them. He was christened 'Hell Fire Jack'. The first man on the scene, the lengthsman was George Dodds.

The Railway Co. did not hang about and set to quickly to clear the site. Passengers and mail were transferred between Stafford and Colwich station via omnibus until the next Sunday by when a foor bridge had been installed and trains stopped at either end of the viaduct and walked across to continue their trip. A floating platform across the river was put in place and sheds were built for the 140 to 200 workmen on the site. The original wooden piles had survived close to water level and this fact was used to speed things up. A metal sleeve was fashioned for each of the stubs. This closely fitted the old pile and extended sufficiently to allow a new timber beam to be driven into it securely. These 'sleeves' used inch thick steel and weighed about 9cwt. After one week the piles were completed for nearly a third of the length. On Wednesday 13th October the new single track viaduct was tested by driving to heavy engines over it and was declared safe, and the line reopened, just three weeks after the fire! Unfortunately there was a death of a workman, Gibbs, died at the Stafford Infirmary having fallen head first down the saw pit. An enquiry had found that the fire was started by errant cinders from the 10:50pm train from Stafford. The next train up from Tamworth, the 11:12pm reported that there was a smell of burning, but no sight of flames or smoke.

Viaduct over the River Penk being repainted in 1934. You can see that the number of lines 

Whilst this temporary bridge was under construction the Board of the company also agreed to a permanent replacement and tests were made to find safe foundations for the new bridge. Gravel conglomerate was found at 12 to 40' and this would form the base. Despite the expense they agreed to build an wrought iron girder bridge, supported on Staffordshire blue brick piers, the bricks coming from West Bromwich. Work actually started on site in December 1858. There was to be six arches or openings of 42 ' each with two to span the River Penk and to be sited to the north of the wooden viaduct. One of the tracks was opened for traffic on Monday 14th March 1859, and the second line on Wednesday 22nd June 1859.

The two track bridge was added to by a completely new bridge next to it between 1880 and 1900 to provide two up and two down lines. The two bridges can be seen side by side in the photo above.

In August 1952 the older bridge was closed for modernisation. Staffordshire Advertiser photos.

The work consisted of replacing the brick pillars, trestles and steel girders. A precast concrete track bed was added and this was not tied to the rest of the structure. This meant that there was less vibration and noise caused by passing trains. It was said that the original elm piles used were still in excellent condition and were largely left in place. The work took just three months and was two weeks ahead of schedule. The workers were a multinational team, Poles, Ukranians, Scots, Welsh and Irish as well as some Displaced Persons. 30% of the work force were local too.

The bridges today.

Who would have thought that a bridge could be so interesting !!