Upton-on-Severn Bridge

There have been several road bridges crossing the River Severn at Upton-on-Severn.

This 1904 photograph shows the wrought iron box girder bridge, opened in 1854. Another photo here shows the unusual semicircular top chord. This bridge originally had a withdrawable section at the south (town) end, replaced by a swing section in 1883. It swung clockwise to open for river traffic (indicated on 1904 25" O.S. map here).

It was replaced by the present riveted steel cantilever bridge, opened in 1940.

1854 'NEW BRIDGE OVER THE SEVERN, AT UPTON.
The town of Upton-on-Severn suffered serious loss by the destruction of its ancient Bridge, during a heavy flood, in the early part of 1852 ; and it was not until July of the same year that the New Bridge (of which the [not] annexed is a view) was commenced. The autumn of 1852 was, however, particularly wet and unfavourable for the progress of such works ; and the laying of the foundations was thereby delayed until the ensuing summer. The New Bridge has been for some time partially opened for traffic, but it is now completed. The design was selected from competition drawings and there are some peculiarities in the construction of the work which deserve notice. The length of the Bridge is about 250 feet, in two spans-of 60 and two of 45 feet. The piers and abutments are of Forest of Dean stone, built on piles; the tubes and girders being of wrought iron, with cast road plates. The opening span of 45 feet, is in one leaf, which, with the necessary counterbalance, is about 100 feet long; and, being on large wheels, the entire leaf is run back horizontally under the approach-road or platform, which it lifts in its progress ; and, as the leaf is run out again, the platform falls into its original position. The moveable portion of the Bridge, with the platform, weighs nearly 100 tons, and it is run in and out by two men. This method of working an opening Bridge is the invention of the engineer, Mr. Alfred Giles; and it has the advantage of being adapted to sites where, from want of quay room, swing-bridges would be inadmissible. The contractors for the masonry were Messrs. Nowell, of Birmingham ; and for the iron-work, Messrs. Butler and Co., of Stanningley; and the total cost of the work, including approaches, &c., was about £10,000.'. Francis Giles, presumably Francis George Giles, was named as the resident engineer.

1856 'UPTON-UPON-SEVERN. The Bridge.—The machinery of the drawbridge, being opened last Wednesday, was broken, and the flood upon the river prevented any access to the works to repair it. It remained open till Saturday afternoon, and during that time the good people of the town were obliged to use the ferry boat again to get across. A town's meeting was called on Thursday, with W. Dowdeswell, Esq., in the chair, to consider what was to be done, and Mr. Leader Williams, the engineer to the Severn Navigation was in attendance. He was of opinion that the damage could not be remedied or the bridge shut till the water had gone down, but the Uptonians were determined to help themselves, and sent off for an engineer from Birmingham, and for Mr. Noel, the builder, and the same evening Thomas Holland, Esq. served notice on Mr. Henry Rowe, the county surveyor and Mr. Leader Williams that it was intended to close the bridge some way and to keep it shut. Nothing could be done on Friday, but on Saturday a number of men were employed, and a couple of canal boats were filled with water to sink them, so that they would go under the sliding part of the bridge. They were then emptied again by means of the fire engine and other appliances, so that the drawbridge was buoyed up and then was pulled and floated across by main force. When it was at last closed, the large crowd who had assembled and watched the proceedings with great eagerness, expressed their pleasure by loud hurrahs. A correspondent says — "It is now rivetted together, we hope and believe never to be opened again." It is, indeed, a most clumsy and dangerous structure, and must be considerably altered before it is useable as an open bridge.'

1882 The Worcestershire Bridge Commission advertised for tenders to convert the opening portion of the bridge from 'draw' to 'swivel'.

1883 Severn Commissioners: 'At Upton they inspected the works in progress at the bridge, when it was found that the masonry was nearly completed, only a .little work in this department requiring to be done, and which could not be proceeded with until the swing-bridge was placed on its turn-pivot. The contractor for the ironwork, who was present with Mr. H. Rowe, the county surveyor, at this part of the day's proceedings, explained that he had now got all the heavy under-girders fixed, and that the swing-bridge would be swung in about three weeks from this time, after which a fortnight should suffice for the com-pletion of the work. He stated that he would willingly have put on more men to get on more rapidly with the work, but that the confined space and the nature of the work generally precluded his doing so.'

1884 'The alterations at Upton-on-Severn bridge were virtually completed, and the bridge was again open for traffic. The improvement effected was, no doubt, great, as the swivel portion of the bridge could now be opened or closed within the short period of two minutes.'

1892 Severn Commissioners - Henry John Marten - 'The Upton bridge (which was made by him), which had a span of 40 feet, opened by hand in 59 seconds, and shut in 59 seconds, so that the delay in traffic from vessels going through would probably not exceed five minutes.'

1939 '.... The centre suspended span, which was hoisted into position during Saturday and Sunday, was constructed at the works of the Horseley Bridge and Thomas Piggott, Ltd., at Tipton, and sent down to Sharpness, where the two halves of each main girder were assembled, and on Friday both the main girders were towed up the river, with eight cross girders, on lighters hauled by the Severn and Canal Carrying Company's tugs, Severn Progress and Severn Victor, ....'

1940 'In the early records the bridge at Upton consisted of a multiple arched bridge of masonry. In 1852 this bridge partly collapsed and was replaced by a wrought iron bridge of four spans and on account of the increasing development of the River Severn as a navigable waterway one of the spans was constructed as a drawbridge to slide back over the abutment into a recess. This type of drawbridge proved unsatisfactory owing to the big frictional resistance to sliding. In 1881 the drawbridge was replaced by a swing span operated by hand, and this bridge is still in use to-day, with traffic loads restricted. The opening span in the present bridge is essential for the passage of river traffic in times of flood ...... The Commission agreed to accept a minimum clearance of 25 feet above mean summer water level for the width forming the middle third of the waterway.
This concession made possible the design of a bridge with reasonable approach gradients and the elimination of the opening span — thus will be abolished a source of annoyance and delay to traffic, which is now occasioned by the frequent opening of the swing span for the passage of the considerable amount of river traffic. The new scheme consists of the construction of a new steel bridge approximately 90 yards upstream from the existing structure. The bridge is of cantilever type spanning the river without impeding the waterway, the piers being sited on the river banks. The central span is 200ft, the two sidespans 35 ft. 6ins. each. The carriageway is 21ft, and the footways 6ft. each. The bridge is of the through type, the main girders being rivetted steel plate girders of variable depth. The carriageway is carried on concrete filled pressed steel troughing resting on cross-girders and the footways are carried on cantilever brackets on the outside of the main girders. These girders are supported by rocker bearings at the piers and anchored at the abutments. The central suspended span of 103 ft. is provided with a deflection bearing at one end and combined expansion and deflection bearing at the other.
The piers are of mass concrete, faced with reconstructed stone and are founded on precast 14ins. by 14ins. by 25ft. reinforced concrete piles, 48 to each pier. The east abutment is of similar construction, a saving in concrete being effected by cellular construction. The west abutment is similarly constructed, but with no piles to foundation owing to favourable bearing value of subsoil. Complementary to the bridge scheme is the construction of a viaduct 560 ft. long and embankments on the east approach. linking the new bridge with the existing road. The viaduct is of reinforced concrete column, beam and slab construction carried on 12ins. by 12ins. and 14ins. by 14ins. reinforced concrete piles 32ft. long, the elevation being treated to give a pleasing exterior. It is constructed in units of three spans each, expansion joints being provided between each unit.
Access to the land on the north side of the east approach is provided by an opening through the embankment, this opening being formed by a monolithic box frame structure of reinforced concrete, the base slab being finished to form the roadway. Additional works covered by the scheme consist of the demolition of the existing bridge, improvement of the churchyard corner at Upton, and terracing of the river bank. The cost of the scheme is approximately £70,000. The Worcestershire County Council have carried out the scheme with the aid of a grant from the Ministry of Transport. The engineer for the design and supervision for the whole of the works is Mr. B. C. Hammond, M.Inst.C.E., M.I.Struct E.. County Surveyor and Bridgemaster, close co-operation with the British Steelworks Association having been maintained with regard to the steelwork superstructure.'

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