Summary
An accommodation bridge over the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway, built in 1840 to a design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59).
Reasons for Designation
The railway bridge south of Kemble Station, built in 1840 to a design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: the bridge was built in 1840, in the earliest, pioneering phase of railway construction in England, which is of international significance;
* Design interest: for its use of local stone rather than the more common red brick, and for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s design;
* Group value: with Kemble station to the north, and the water tower, both listed at Grade II.
History
In 1835 Royal Assent was granted for the Great Western Railway Act to build a railway between London and Bristol; the first section was inaugurated in 1838 and progressed westwards, opening in sections as work was completed, reaching beyond Swindon to Wootton Bassett by 1840. Having seen the prospectus for the GWR, residents of Cheltenham, together with people from Gloucester, Stroud and Cirencester, resolved in 1833 to create a line linking Cheltenham with the GWR, for the benefit of agriculture, manufacture and commerce. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer of the GWR, was appointed engineer for the new railway, and by 1835, a route had been surveyed which resulted in a semi-circular line of 44 miles, designed to avoid steep gradients, between Cheltenham and Swindon, passing through Gloucester and Stroud, with a junction at Kemble for further branch lines to Cirencester and Tetbury.
Although most were in favour of the railway, there was significant opposition on two fronts – firstly, from the Thames and Severn Canal Company, whose management feared competition from the railway; and secondly from Squire Gordon of Kemble House, Kemble, who objected to the railway running through his parkland. Robert ‘Bum’ Gordon (1786-1864), heir to plantations in Jamaica, had come to Kemble in 1809 after marrying Elizabeth Anne Coxe, who had recently inherited the estate. By all accounts a forceful and bombastic character who opposed tax rises and supported slavery, Gordon was Member of Parliament consecutively for Wareham (1812-18), Cricklade (1818-37) and New Windsor (1837-41), holding various offices in parliament during this time, and serving as Sheriff of Gloucestershire 1811-12. The ruthless Gordon negotiated a series of substantial compensation payments, plus interest, from the railway company in consideration of any land on the Kemble estate which it might have to purchase for the construction of the railway. He was also concerned about the visual intrusion that it would make on the landscape of his parkland, and ensured that instead of the shallow cutting required to carry it part of the way through the park, a tunnel almost 380m long was stipulated in the Cheltenham and Great Western Railway Act of 1836, as well as the requirement for planting with appropriate shrubs and trees, and their subsequent maintenance. Brunel evidently found dealing with Gordon fraught; he wrote in a letter in 1838 that the directors of the railway company should be “positive and unyielding with Gordon…”, describing him as “cunning” and “savage”. No public station was to be built on his estate or within 50 yards of its boundary without his consent in writing, and it was not until 1881 that a station was built, to a design by Brunel, to replace the former timber platforms which had until then served as a stop. The first stretch of the new line, from Swindon to Cirencester via Kemble, opened on 31 May 1841.
The railway bridge just south of Kemble station was built in 1840 as an accommodation bridge, allowing access across the railway for a track across agricultural land to the Great Barn, part of the Kemble estate. The fact that the bridge is built in well-dressed limestone was almost certainly one of Gordon’s demands of the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway, as it would be more visually pleasing than the more usual, and cheaper, red brick, which was used for other bridges on the line around Kemble. The bridge remains in use, and now carries a metalled road.
Details
An accommodation bridge over the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway, built in 1840 to a design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59).
MATERIALS
Local limestone.
DESCRIPTION
An elliptical-arched bridge, constructed from dressed, coursed limestone, with a projecting plinth and string course above the opening. The abutments have wide, shallow, buttresses, and are splayed to allow access over the bridge. The parapet is capped with flat coping stones.
