North Bridge

Reasons for Designation

* It is one of three bridges crossing Victoria Street, Manchester which together form a strong visual group
* Its decorative parapet reflects its important location at a transport nexus
* It demonstrates, with other closely associated structures, the development of the transport network in Manchester.

Details

MANCHESTER

698-1/0/11216 VICTORIA STREET 27-MAR-08 North Bridge

GV II

Bridge, 1893. MATERIALS & CONSTRUCTION: iron plate girder construction with cast iron parapet.

EXTERIOR: the girders are haunched at the sides to allow for the passage of traffic below while providing sufficient support from the brick abutments to either side. The cast iron parapet is decorated with bands, from the base, of continuous arches, key patterns, raised panels divided by Ionic pilasters, and foliage swags.

HISTORY: Victoria Station was the western terminus of the Manchester & Leeds Railway Company's trans-Pennine line, constructed in 1844 and designed by George Stephenson. A bridge across Victoria Street to carry this line was built at the same time and is the earliest of the three bridges entering the station. Several terminus stations were built in Manchester, already a thriving and growing city when the railways arrived, and efforts to link them led to a complex situation of stations and tracks as the network evolved.

In or around 1864 a second bridge was constructed immediately to the north of the 1844 bridge, connecting the line to Bolton and Wigan developed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. By the 1880s Victoria Station had grown to become one of the largest passenger stations in the country.

Manchester Exchange Station, to the west of Victoria Station on the other side of the River Irwell, was opened in 1884, to deal with some of the interconnection problems of the network, and the 1844 bridge was widened at the same time to provide access between the two stations. This linkage formed what was the longest passenger platform in Europe, part of which was carried on the bridge and extended through the original 1844 section of Victoria Station, with a canopy over the platform and track.

Further development took place in 1893, when a third bridge was constructed to the north of the 1864 bridge, taking further track between Exchange and Victoria Stations, and between 1903 and 1908 Victoria Station was further extended with a new facade by architect William Dawes. Exchange Station, which was severely damaged by bombing during the Second World War, was closed in 1969, and the 1893 bridge became redundant in 1992-4 when the new Arena was built into the north side of Victoria Station, closing off the east side of the former track. The platform on the 1844 bridge also became redundant when Echange Station closed, and the train shed roof was demolished in 1982. The canopy survived until 1994, though there are still remnants of the platform on the bridge.

It is the 1893 bridge which is described here.

SOURCES: http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/transport/railway-stations/ accessed 1 October 2007 O.S. 1:2500 Lancashire 1892 O.S. 1:2500 Lancashire 1908 Tom Wray; Manchester Victoria Station, 2004

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The 1893 bridge at Victoria Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is one of three bridges crossing Victoria Street, Manchester which together form a strong visual group * Its decorative parapet reflects its important location at a transpot nexus * It demonstrates, with other closely associated structures, the development of the transport network in Manchester.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

504202

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Wray, T, Manchester Victoria Station, (2004)

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