The Cliff Bridge, previously known as the Spa Bridge, is a footbridge in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. Spanning the valley from St Nicholas Cliff to The Spa, it was completed in 1827 and is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The bridge has four segmental braced iron arches on plain tapering stone piers with stone abutments; its walkway is 414 feet (126 m) long. It is a rare example of a multiple-span cast iron bridge. [2]
With the discovery of spa waters in Scarborough in the 17th century, the southern part of the town began to receive thousands of visitors. However, although it was easy to access the Spa from the South Bay seafront, a steep descent was required to reach it from the St Nicholas Cliff area of the town. [3]
To give access to original "Spaw" and its mineral spring, the new Cliff Bridge Company was formed in 1826 to lease the Spa from the corporation to maximise its commercial potential by erecting an elegant iron footbridge to span the chasm of the valley from St Nicholas Cliff to the Spa. It is 75 ft (23 m) above the valley, 414 ft (126 m) long and 13.5 ft (4.1 m) wide. [3]
By only the next year, it was completed, though despite its fast speed of construction, it came at a cost of around £7,000 (equivalent to £765,000in 2023), double the original estimate. [4] An opening ceremony was held on 19 July 1827, during which a mail coach was pulled by horses at high speed across the bridge. Much used, it soon became a toll bridge, with a booth erected at the St Nicholas Cliff end of the bridge. For regular users, season tickets were available allowing unlimited access to the bridge and Spa for one, two or four week periods. [3]
In 1951, the Corporation of Scarborough purchased the bridge, removing the tolls and demolishing the toll booth. [3]
Cliff Bridge is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II listed building, having been designated on 22 December 1953. [1] Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing, and is applied to "buildings that are nationally important and of special interest". [5]
The bridge was closed to the public from November 2009 through to April 2010 for a £700,000 general renovation project, including new timber beams spanning the full width of the bridge, replacement of the main bridge deck and refurbishment and repainting of all metal components. The bridge refurbishment made North Yorkshire County Council one of three principal winners in the 2011 Historic Bridge and Infrastructure Awards. [6]
Richmond Lock and Footbridge is a lock, rising and falling low-tide barrage integrating controlled sluices and pair of pedestrian bridges on the River Thames in southwest London, England, and is a Grade II* listed structure. It is the furthest downstream of the forty-five Thames locks and the only one owned and operated by the Port of London Authority. It was opened in 1894 and is north-west of the centre of Richmond in a semi-urban part of southwest London. Downstream are Syon Park and Kew Gardens on opposite banks. It connects the promenade at Richmond with the neighbouring district of St. Margarets on the west bank during the day and is closed at night to pedestrians – after 19:30 GMT or after 21:30 when BST is in use. At high tide the sluice gates are raised and partly hidden behind metal arches forming twin footbridges.
There are nine bridges across the River Ouse and eighteen smaller bridges and passages across the narrower River Foss within the city of York, England.
Whitchurch Bridge is a toll bridge that carries the B471 road over the River Thames in England. It links the villages of Pangbourne in Berkshire, and Whitchurch-on-Thames in Oxfordshire – crossing the river just downstream of Whitchurch Lock. It is one of two remaining private toll bridges across the Thames, the other being Swinford Toll Bridge. The bridge has a weight limit of 7.5 tonnes and is a Grade II listed structure. Its 1792-built, now unrelated, residential toll house is also listed.
Barmouth Bridge, or Barmouth Viaduct is a Grade II* listed single-track wooden railway viaduct across the estuary of the River Mawddach near Barmouth, Wales. It is 900 yards (820 m) long and carries the Cambrian Line. It is the longest timber viaduct in Wales and one of the oldest in regular use in Britain.
Bath Spa railway station is the principal station serving the city of Bath in Somerset, England. It is on the Great Western Main Line, 106 miles 71 chains down the line from the zero point at London Paddington between Chippenham to the east and Oldfield Park to the west. It is the busiest station in Somerset, and the second busiest station in South West England after Bristol Temple Meads.
Barnes Railway Bridge is a Grade II listed railway bridge in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the London Borough of Hounslow. It crosses the River Thames in London in a northwest to southeast direction at Barnes. It carries the South Western Railway's Hounslow Loop Line, and lies between Barnes Bridge and Chiswick stations. It can also be crossed on foot, and is one of only three bridges in London to combine pedestrian and rail use; the others being Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges and Fulham Railway Bridge.
Strand-on-the-Green is one of Chiswick's four medieval villages, and a "particularly picturesque" riverside area in West London. It is a conservation area, with many "imposing" listed buildings beside the River Thames; a local landmark, the Kew Railway Bridge that crosses the River Thames and the Strand, is itself Grade II listed. Oliver's Island is just offshore.
The British town of Scarborough has had a total of five cliff railways, or funiculars, two of which are presently operational. The town is home to the first funicular railway in the United Kingdom.
Gas Street Basin is a canal basin in the centre of Birmingham, England, where the Worcester and Birmingham Canal meets the BCN Main Line. It is located on Gas Street, off Broad Street, and between the Mailbox and Brindleyplace canal-side developments.
Scarborough Spa is a Grade II* listed building in South Bay, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. It is a venue for conferences, exhibitions, entertainment, live music and events on the Yorkshire Coast. Originally built around the source of Scarborough's spa waters, it is owned and managed by Scarborough Borough Council.
Widcombe is a district of Bath, England, immediately south-east of the city centre, across the River Avon.
Wilford Toll Bridge, locally referred to as the 'Halfpenny Bridge', is a tram, pedestrian and cycle bridge in Nottingham, England. It crosses the River Trent between the Meadows and Wilford. It originally opened as a toll bridge for general traffic in 1870, but was closed when declared unsafe in 1974. Following demolition of the central span, a narrower footbridge and cycleway was opened in 1980. The bridge was once again widened to accommodate an extension of the Nottingham Express Transit network in 2015.
Victoria Bridge in Bath, England, was built in 1836 across the River Avon. The bridge has been recognised as a Grade II* listed building.
Corby Bridge is a railway viaduct adjacent to and immediately east of Wetheral railway station at Wetheral, near Carlisle, in north-western England, begun in 1830 and completed in 1834. It is 920 feet (280 m) long and 100 feet (30 m) high, and has been a Grade I listed building since 1 April 1957.
Blackfriars Bridge is a stone arch bridge in Greater Manchester, England. Completed in 1820, it crosses the River Irwell, connecting Salford to Manchester.
There are ten scheduled monuments in Coventry. In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a "nationally important" archaeological site or historic building that has been given protection against unauthorised change by being placed on a list by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; English Heritage takes the leading role in identifying such sites. Monuments are defined in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 and the National Heritage Act 1983. Scheduled monuments—sometimes referred to as scheduled ancient monuments—can also be protected through listed building procedures, and English Heritage considers listed building status to be a better way of protecting buildings and standing structures. A scheduled monument that is later determined to "no longer merit scheduling" can be descheduled.
Dutton Horse Bridge is a timber twin-span footbridge across part of the Weaver navigation, near the villages of Acton Bridge and Dutton in Cheshire, England. The bridge is located at SJ 583 767, between the Dutton Locks and Dutton Viaduct. It carries the towpath across a subsidiary channel used to regulate the water level, at the point where it rejoins the main river.
The South Portland Street Suspension Bridge is a suspension-type footbridge across the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland linking the City Centre on the north side to the Laurieston and Gorbals districts on the south side.
The Central Tramway Company is an electric-powered funicular railway located in the holiday resort of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The company has the distinction of being the oldest surviving Tramway Company in the UK, as the original corporation still operates the funicular today. Built in just 6 months between January and August 1881, the Tramway opened on Monday 1 August becoming the 3rd such cliff railway to operate in the borough.
Scarborough Town Hall, originally St Nicholas House, is a red brick Jacobean Revival mansion in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, currently used as a municipal building for the Borough of Scarborough and an events venue. It was built in the 19th century as a home for John Woodall, a prominent local businessman, and then converted and extended for municipal use in 1903. Situated overlooking the South Bay, it is a grade II listed building.
Media related to Cliff Bridge, Scarborough at Wikimedia Commons
