Gallery – Bridge 1 Restoration, Cosgrove

Two people standing in from of canal bridge

1969 – Eastern side of the bridge. Main arch of bridge still exists. Canal is dammed and the bridge void fill in.

Person sanding on towpath of dried up canal with bridge in background

1973 – View looking east. Last know photo of the original bridge

An earth mound with remains of brick walls protruding.

2014 – The bridge was knocked down sometime in the 1970’s and an earth mound put in its place to allow farm traffic to cross. The remains of wing walls protrude from the mound.

2015 – View across the top of the earth mound, looking north.

Small tracked digger starts to excavate earth mound

2016 – The first cut into the top of the earth mound as we start to excavate.

Earth void dug out and beginning to show remains of bridge

2016 – Excavation proceeds. Every day exposes more of the bridge remains.

Feb 2017 – The wing walls and towpath have been exposed. Note the slot for stop-planks.

Rubble in void where bridge has been excavated

March 2017 – Excavation mostly complete. A lot of the original stone blocks from the bridge arch were recovered.

July 2017 – Void cleared of rubble

Water in the void formed by bridge remains

Oct 2017 – With the void fully excavated it now holds water. Partially from rain, partially from seepage from the dammed off canal.

Looking across empty canal to stone remains of bridge balustrade.

Nov 2017 – View of the southern bridge remains from the north bank.

Dec 2017 – View of the northern bridge remains from top of the southern side.

Dec 2017 – Another view of the northern remains from top of the southern side.

Jan 2018 – Creating a solid, dry, area in void for safe working.

Stone wall showing groves made from ropes of horse drawn barges

July 2018 – Groves in the bridge remains caused by ropes from horse drawn barges.

Aug 2018 – Five steel I-beams waiting to span the bridge void plus one spare.

Sept 2018 – Restoration begins. Building brick piles on which to mount girders.

New bricks piled up top of old wing walls.

Sept 2018 – Start of renovation of the wing walls.

Sept 2018 – The brick I-beam support piles completed.

Excavator lifts a steel beam into place over bridge void

Nov 2018 – Installation of the steel I-beams, spanning the void.

Nov 2018 – First I-beam in place.

Looking up from the bed of the canal at the steel beams spanning the bridge sides

Nov 2018 – Looking up all the installed I-beams.

I-beams spanning bridge void and resting on brick foundations

Nov 2018 – All 5 I-beams in place, across the bridge void and resting on the brick foundations.

Concrete beams and blocks on top of I-beams

Nov 2018 – Concrete beams laid across the I-beams with concrete blocks in-between.

Looking up at ends of concrete beams and blocks on the I-beams

Nov 2018 – I-beams with concrete cross beams and blocks.

Looking across deck of bridge formed on concrete blocks.

Dec 2018 – The almost complete deck base.

Worker rebuilding wing wall with new bricks

April 2019 – Further restoration of the wing walls.

May 2019 – Re-bar put in place ready for first concrete pour that will form the sides of the new bridge.

June 2019 – First stage of concrete sides in place. Now re-bar is laid across deck.

Workers levelling concrete on top of bridge deck.

Aug 2018 – Concrete pour forming the main deck of the bridge.

Aug 2018 – Complete bridge deck

Aug 2019 – Starting to build new brick side-walls on approach to bridge.

Oct 2019 – The brick foundations holding up the I-beams are hidden behind a vanity wall.

Oct 2019 – Completed approach side walls

Dec 2019 – Wooden steps have been created from tow-path to the bridge road.

Looking from canal in water towards the new bridge

Jan 2020 – Eastern side of the almost complete bridge. The dam holding back the canal is still in place.

View along metal railings that form the sides of the bridge deck.

May 2020 – Still railings installed along bridge deck.

Looking across empty canal void at top-path under bridge

Aug 2020 – Tow-path under bridge is open for use with hoarding protecting users from the drop into the canal void.

Aug 2020 – Creating the approach road to the bridge deck using MOT gravel.

Sept 2020 – The dry-stone wall along the southern approach road is restored

Sept 2020 – Completed wall awaiting capping stones.

Looking up approach road along length of dry-stone wall

Oct 2020 – Looking up the length of the southern approach road.

Stop-plank wall across canal in bridge void.

Sept 2020 – New stop-planks installed into the original slots in the wings walls of the bridge,

Oct 2020 – Siphons from the canal are used to fill the bridge void with water.

Looking from dry canal bed towards the stop-planks in bridge gap, holding back water.

Oct 2020 – The stop-planks holding back the water

Water in the bridge void held back by stop-planks.

Oct 2020 – The filled bridge void.

Oct 2020 – Looking north across the new bridge. Compare this with the same view before we started restoration.

Boat with crane lifts steel piling from dam.

Nov 2020 – Removal of the piling dam begins

Crane lifting steel piling from the dam.

Nov 2020 – One of the piling sheets is removed from the dam

Dec 2020 – First traffic across the new bridge.

Water in the canal to the west of the briidge

Dec 2020 – Siphons over the stop-planks begin the put water into the western side of the canal

Water in the canal to the west of the bridge.

Dec 2020 – The first section of canal begins to fill.

Looking up at northern approach to the bridge road

Dec 2020 – Complete bridge approach on the northern side of the bridge.

April 2021 – The dam removed.

Looking along watered canal towards bridge.

May 2021 – Looking east along the re-watered section of the canal. Taken from approximately the same location as the 1973 photograph.

Sept 2023 – Grand opening ceremony of the re-watered canal

Boat (dredger) entering void of the bridge.

Sept 2023 – Preparing to pass under the bridge.

Sept 2023 – The first boat under bridge 1 in 60 years

Plaque commemoration bridge rebuild.

Mosaic displayed on side of bridge.

Search this site

Information about the Society

About our restoration of the canal

About the history of the canal

How the Society engages with the community

What’s going on

How you can help us

Gallery – Bridge 1 Restoration, Cosgrove

Return to gallery index