Ashton Swing Bridge
ASHTON SWING BRIDGE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1380341
- Date first listed:
- 24-May-2000
- List Entry Name:
- Ashton Swing Bridge
- Statutory Address:
- ASHTON SWING BRIDGE
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-05-22
- Reference:
- IOE01/16565/11
- Rights:
- © Mr Michael Perry. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1380341
- Date first listed:
- 24-May-2000
- List Entry Name:
- Ashton Swing Bridge
- Statutory Address 1:
- ASHTON SWING BRIDGE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- ASHTON SWING BRIDGE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- City of Bristol (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 56879 72083
Details
ST5672 BRISTOL
901-1/41/10087 Ashton Swing Bridge
II
Railway and road hydraulic swing bridge, nowfixed. 1905-6 for Bristol Corporation and the Great Western Railway, chief engineer j.C.lnglis, contractor john Lysaght and Co of Bristol, hydraulic machinery by Armstrong Whitworth and Co. Steel, with squared rock faced limestone abutments. Two piers with the southern one supporting the swinging apparatus. Enormous Whipple Murphy truss swinging span weighing some 1000 tons which carried a double track line to the north bank of the Avon New Cut thus opening up the south side of the Floating Harbour to rail traffic as well as the north bank via the Cumberland Basin bridge.
History: This bridge was constructed as a part of the Bristol Harbour lines from the Portishead branch to Canon's Marsh and Wapping' Wharf which opened on 4-10-1906. It was a joint initiative by the City and the GWR but the great cost of ?70,000 fell mainly on the Corporation as the railway had agreed to pay only ?18,000, which was the first estimate. It originally carried a road, and the operating cabin at the top of the girder but there is now little sign of this; it still carries a single rail track. It was operated hydraulically from the dock system and used 182 gallons of water a time. It was one of the last installations added to the docks hydraulic system. In early years it was swung on average 10 times a day, but this soon declined and it has not been swung since 1936. Bristol Corporation rescinded the obligation on the railway to maintain it as an opening bridge in 1951. The road deck and operating cabin were removed following the completion of the new road system associated with the Plimsoll Bridge in 1965. It is an unusual example of a combined road/rail swing bridge.
References: E.T.MacDermot, History of the Great Western Railway, Ian Allan, revised ed. 1964,
Vol II, p 228.
John Lord and Jem Southam, The Floating Harbour, The Redcliffe Press, 1983, pps 47-8,64-5,77-8.
Listing NGR: ST5687972083
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 480343
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
MacDermot, E T, History of the Great Western Railway 1833 to 1863, (1964), 228
Lord, J, Southam, J, The Floating Harbour, (1983), 47-48
Lord, J, Southam, J, The Floating Harbour, (1983), 64-65
Lord, J, Southam, J, The Floating Harbour, (1983), 77-78
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 20:57:59.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.