Poyntz Swing Bridge
This is a very early surviving example of an iron swing bridge. Restored by the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society (SIAS) between 1982 and 1997.
C. and H. Tickell of Southampton made fourteen swing bridges in 1820 for the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal. The only survivor is the Poyntz Swing Bridge. This was originally sited at the junction near Hunston, where the Chichester Ship Canal branched off the Portsmouth and Arundel Canal, but after it was damaged in 1982 it was moved to its present location near Chichester Canal Basin, where it replaced the long-gone Padwick Bridge.[1]
The bridge's cast iron girders are 40ft 7" long, and are pivoted off centre, rotating on 4" diameter iron balls running in iron ball races.
Some members of the wrought iron handrailing have been renewed. Slender diagonal tie bars run from the deck up to posts at handrail height, where a small degree of stiffening is provided by X-bracing (Photo 4). Presumably this was supposed to provide some support for the cantilevered deck.
Note: There was a light railway drawbridge at Hunston. See photos here. and here.