Bridges of York

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There are a total of nine bridges across the River Ouse at York, England. The original Ouse Bridge is on a site dates from Roman times, though the bridge was rebuilt by the Tudors and then the Victorians. The Scarborough Railway Bridge of 1845 was the second bridge, followed by two more road bridges, Lendal Bridge in 1863 and Skeldergate Bridge followed in 1882. The Millennium Bridge, a footbridge, was added in 2001. There is also Clifton Bridge in the northern suburbs of the city, two modern fly-overs carrying the outer ring road and the former railway bridge at Naburn, which is now crossed by the York-Selby cycle path.

North to south, the bridges are:

The A1237 Outer Ring Road
Clifton Bridge (1963)
Scarborough Railway Bridge (1844)
Lendal Bridge (1863)
Ouse Bridge (1820)
Skeldergate Bridge (1881)
Millennium Bridge (2001)
The A64 Outer Ring Road
Naburn railway bridge (now a cycle and pedestrian path)

There are also numerous bridges across the smaller River Foss, of which perhaps the most interesting is the Blue Bridge.

1 The Bridges
2 References
3 External links

[edit] The Bridges

[edit] Ouse Bridge

An engraving of the Tudor-built bridge

Ouse Bridge from the South Bank, looking upstream through the Skeldergate Bridge

The Bridge over the Ouse gave York its strategic position. The bridge was originally built by the Romans. In the 16th century the bridge collapsed. A Tudor bridge was built in 1565, with a new central arch about 70ft in diameter, Defoe described as "...near 70 foot [21 m] in diameter; it is, without exception, the greatest in England, some say it's as large as the Rialto at Venice, though I think not." This was dismantled 1810-1818 in order to make way for the New Ouse Bridge.

[edit] Scarborough Railway Bridge

Scarborough Railway Bridge from the South Bank, looking upstream

The second bridge across the Ouse was the Scarborough Railway Bridge, built in 1845. Originally it had two tracks with a pedestrian path in between them. In 1875 the track was raised 4 feet (1.2 m) and the footpath moved to the south side - where it remains today.

[edit] Lendal Bridge

Lendal Bridge from the South Bank, looking downstream

Lendal Bridge was built by Thomas Page in 1863 and is an iron bridge with Gothic features. It links Station Road with Museum Street and thus York railway station with York Minster. At both ends of the bridge stand towers, on the west, Barker Tower and on the east is Lendal Tower. A rope ferry previously existed at this location.

[edit] Skeldergate Bridge

Skeldergate Bridge from the South Bank, looking upstream

Links the area of York Castle and the old bailey at Baile Hill. The Bridge was formally declared free of tolls on April 1, 1914.

[edit] Millennium Bridge

York Millennium Bridge from the South Bank, looking downstream

The Millennium Bridge from Fulford.

Below the bridge from Fulford.

The Millennium Bridge was opened on 10 April 2001 costing £4.2m to build. It spans the River Ouse to the south of York, linking Hospital Fields Road and Maple Grove in Fulford with Butcher Terrace on the South Bank. The bridge carries a footpath and cycle path. The bridge shortened the walk for students from houses in the South Bank to the University as they previously had to walk via Skeldergate Bridge.

The bridge also acts a meeting place for both locals (a waist height shelf spans the whole structure, facilitating sitting and admiring the view), as well as local kids who should have better things to do (which has lead to several acts of vandalism to the bridge and the surrounding area).

Supplies for Fulford Barracks were brought in by river near this location, and the remains of a narrow gauge railway may be seen on the eastern bank of the river a few metres toward the city. There used to be a rope ferry at this location as well.

[edit] Naburn Railway Bridge

Outside of the outer ringroad, the Naburn bridge used to carry the York-Selby railway until it was shut in 1964. It is also know as the "Fisherman Bridge" due to a large metal sculpture of a fisherman sitting on top which was added in 2000 as part of the York Council "Creative Communities 2000" scheme [1].

[edit] Clifton Bridge

Clifton bridge

A temporary bridge at Clifton was built by the British Army in 1961, on the site of an old ferry crossing, in order to handle additional vehicle traffic caused by the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Kent at York Minster. A permanent bridge was opened officially on 28 October 1963. The bridge is built from 4,000 tons of concrete and 50 tons of reinforced steel[2], [3].