Reasons for Designation
This road bridge of 1927 is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It has constructional interest as one of the earliest surviving bridges by this company in England
* it is one of the early pioneers of a highly successful type of bridge that is still the preferred choice for small and medium spans.
* It incorporates features of architectural quality seen in its design, the smooth finish of the concrete and the iron balustrade and art deco pillars
* It has group value with the Felton Old Bridge, Grade II* listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and a number of other listed buildings clustered around the bridge head
* It is well preserved and compares favourably with other listed bridges of similar construction and date
Details
FELTON
1398/0/10012 MAIN STREET
06-AUG-09 (Centre of)
New Felton Bridge - Bridge number B634
5/05a
GV II
Beam Slab Road Bridge, 1926-7, by Considere Constructions Ltd; the consulting engineers were Mr J H Bean, County Surveyor and the builders were Messrs E Henderson & Son.
MATERIALS: Reinforced concrete with cast and wrought iron
DESCRIPTION: New Felton Bridge has three river spans of 11.9m, 14.3m and 15.4m giving a total length of c. 41.6 m. The south half of the structure is built on the curve and the platform is super elevated accordingly. The beams and platforms are continuous abutment to abutment and are supported by two trestles. The ends of the beams are bourne by flexible columns at the abutments where an expansion joint is provided. The carriageway is 9.1m wide, flanked by footpaths 1.8m wide. The railing is of wrought iron and incorporates cast iron mirror vase balusters and sections of parapet; the latter rise above each of the five bridge piers and are art deco in style with a 1920s swag design in relief.
HISTORY: Considere Constructions Ltd are significant bridge engineers of repute in the design of pre and interwar concrete bridges; they were responsible for the celebrated and listed Grade B George V Bridge, Glasgow (1924-28); in common with many inter-war concrete bridges, this bridge was designed to give the appearance of being a masonry, multi-span, shallow arch bridge but is in reality a continuous, reinforced, concrete beam bridge, with the superstructure resting on roller bearings. Twickenham Bridge (listed at Grade II*) and Chiswick Bridge (listed at Grade II) spanning the Thames were also designed by Considere to resemble stone-built structure and indeed the latter was faced in ashlar. In this sense Felton Bridge is more structurally 'honest' as its design and structure are revealed in a highly visible manner.
SOURCES:
S.M. Johnson and C. W. Scott-Giles eds., 'British Bridges, An Illustrated Technical and Historical Record', (Public Works, Roads and Transport Congress, 1933) pp. 222-23
W.L. Scott, 'Reinforced Concrete Bridges', London, 1931
James Sutherland, Dawn Hamm and Mike Chrimes eds., 'Historic Concrete', (2001), pp.222-3
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: This bridge of 1926 is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It has constructional interest as one of the earliest surviving bridges by this company in England.
* It is one of the early pioneers of a highly successful type of bridge that is still the preferred choice for small and medium spans.
* It incorporates features of architectural quality seen in its design, the smooth finish of the concrete and the wrought iron balustrade and art deco pillars.
* It has group value with the Felton Old Bridge, a Grade II* listed structure and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and a number of other listed buildings clustered around the bridge head
* It is well preserved and compares favourably with other listed bridges of similar construction and date
