Donnington Bridge

Last updated

Donnington Bridge
Donnington Bridge.jpg
Donnington Bridge, seen from the south.
Coordinates 51°44′08″N1°14′31.5″W / 51.73556°N 1.242083°W / 51.73556; -1.242083
Crosses River Thames
Locale Oxford
Characteristics
DesignArch
MaterialConcrete
Width56 feet 8 inches (17.27 m)
Height16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m) [1]
Longest span170 feet (52 m)
No. of spans1
History
DesignerTravers Morgan and Partners
Opened1962
Location
Donnington Bridge
A view looking north from Donnington Bridge of a rowing bump (Oriel catching Magdalen) at Eights Week (2005). Eights 2005.JPG
A view looking north from Donnington Bridge of a rowing bump (Oriel catching Magdalen) at Eights Week (2005).

Donnington Bridge is a modern road bridge (completed in 1962) over the River Thames, in the south of the city of Oxford, England. At this point the river is commonly called the Isis. The bridge carries the B4495 road (Donnington Bridge Road) from Abingdon Road to Iffley Road. It crosses the river on the reach between Iffley Lock and Osney Lock.

Contents

Design

Donnington Bridge has a single arch span of 52 metres (170 ft) between supports and an overall width of 17.27 metres (56 ft 8 in). It is constructed of reinforced concrete deck slab cast integrally with 10 pre-stressed concrete legs triangulated to meet the hinges enclosed within the abutments. The abutments are clad externally with precast concrete units faced with Criggion Green and Blue Shap stone and the fascias of the bridge are calcined flint.

History

A free ferry linked East Oxford and South Oxford until 1937, when a concrete footbridge was built. [2]

Early in 1954 Oxford City Council revived a proposal to construct a new road to link Iffley Road and Abingdon Road which would cross the Thames near Donnington Lane. Various routes were considered and in December 1954 the present line was approved. Although the Minister of Transport refused to provide financial assistance, the council decided to proceed with the scheme.

The design and roadworks and the overall administration of the scheme were undertaken by the City engineer J. Campbell Riddell. Travers Morgan and Partners were appointed as consultants for the design of the bridge itself and the backwater bridges.

As a result of a government credit squeeze, less than a week before contract documents were issued, the project had to be shelved until February 1960. The following June the contract in the sum of £309,903 16s 11d was awarded to The Cementation Company for the construction of the bridges and the new road and for the demolition of the free Ferry link foot bridge. The overall cost including improvements to the existing approach roads, street lighting, service diversions and landscaping, came to over £400,000.

Donnington Bridge was opened on 22 October 1962 by Viscount Hailsham who walked over the bridge. The Lord Mayor of Oxford, Evan Owen Roberts, was the first person to drive over the bridge. [3] The 50th anniversary of the opening was commemorated in 2012. [4]

Activity

There is much rowing on the river by students of Oxford University, and members of the City of Oxford Rowing Club, between Iffley Lock downstream from this bridge and Folly Bridge further upstream. The start of Eights Week and Torpids is just south of Donnington Bridge, and the bridge is a good place to view the races because of its high vantage point. The area is also used to for Kayaking with organisation including The Riverside Centre, Falcon and Isis Canoe Club all based beside the bridge. [5] [6] [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Thames</span> River in southern England

The River Thames, known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At 215 miles (346 km), it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iffley</span> Human settlement in England

Iffley is a village in a designated Conservation Area in Oxfordshire, England. It lies within the boundaries of the city of Oxford, between Cowley and the estates of Rose Hill and Donnington, and in proximity to the River Thames (Isis). A notable feature is its largely unchanged Norman church, St Mary the Virgin, which has a modern stained glass Nativity window designed by John Piper and another window designed by Roger Wagner. The church is a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teddington Lock</span> Series of locks on the River Thames in London

Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810.

This article lists the islands in the River Thames, or at the mouth of a tributary, in England. It excludes human-made islands built as part of the building of forty-five two-gate locks which each accompany a weir, and islets subordinate to and forming part of the overall shape of another. The suffix -ey is common across England and Scotland and cognate with ait and meaning island, a term – as ait or eyot – unusually well-preserved on the Thames. A small minority of list entries are referred to as Island, Ait or Eyot and are vestiges, separated by a depression in the land or high-water-level gully.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thames Path</span> National Trail following the River Thames in England

The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from one of its sources near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about 185 miles (298 km) long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996.

Chiswick Bridge is a reinforced concrete deck arch bridge over the River Thames in West London. It is one of three bridges opened in 1933 as part of an ambitious scheme to relieve traffic congestion west of London. The structure carries the A316 road between Chiswick on the north bank of the Thames and Mortlake on the south bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Isis</span> Name for the River Thames in Oxfordshire, UK

"The Isis" is an alternative name for the River Thames, used from its source in the Cotswolds until it is joined by the Thame at Dorchester in Oxfordshire. It derives from the ancient name for the Thames, Tamesis, which in the Middle Ages was believed to be a combination of "Thame" and "Isis". Notably, the Isis flows through the city of Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henley Bridge</span> Bridge in Henley-on-Thames

Henley Bridge is a road bridge built in 1786 at Henley-on-Thames over the River Thames, between Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The bridge has five elliptical stone arches, and links Hart Street in Henley with White Hill leading up a steep hill to Remenham Hill. It crosses the Thames on the reach between Hambleden Lock and Marsh Lock, carrying the Thames Path across the river. It is a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandford-on-Thames</span> Human settlement in England

Sandford-on-Thames, also referred to as simply Sandford, is a village and Parish Council beside the River Thames in Oxfordshire just south of Oxford. The village is just west of the A4074 road between Oxford and Henley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iffley Lock</span> Lock on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England

Iffley Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England near the village of Iffley, Oxfordshire. It is on the southern outskirts of Oxford. The original lock was built by the Oxford-Burcot Commission in 1631 and the Thames Navigation Commission replaced this in 1793. The lock has a set of rollers to allow punts and rowing boats to be moved between the water levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepperton Lock</span> Lock on the River Thames in Surrey, England

Shepperton Lock is a lock on the River Thames, in England by the left bank at Shepperton, Surrey. It is across the river from Weybridge which is nearby linked by a passenger ferry.

Donnington is a small housing estate in Oxford, England located adjacent to the River Thames in the post-war housing developments either side of Donnington Bridge and around Boundary Brook Road. It is bordered by Iffley Village to the south, Iffley Fields to the north and Cowley to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunbury Lock</span> Lock on the River Thames in Surrey, England

Sunbury Lock is a lock complex of the River Thames in England near Walton-on-Thames in north-west Surrey, the third lowest of forty four on the non-tidal reaches. The complex adjoins the right, southern bank about 12 mile (0.80 km) downstream of the Weir Hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandford Lock</span> Lock in Oxfordshire, South East England, England, UK

Sandford Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, situated at Sandford-on-Thames which is just south of Oxford. The first pound lock was built in 1631 by the Oxford-Burcot Commission although this has since been rebuilt. The lock has the deepest fall of all locks on the Thames at 8 ft 9in (2.69m) and is connected to a large island which is one of three at this point. The lock lies at the end of Church Lane in Sandford on Thames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isis Bridge</span> Bridge in Oxford

Isis Bridge is a modern road bridge across the River Thames just south of Oxford, England. It carries the Oxford Ring Road, part of the A423 road, across the Thames on the reach between Sandford Lock and Iffley Lock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osney Rail Bridge</span> Bridge in Oxford

Osney Rail Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Thames at Oxford in England. It carries the Cherwell Valley Line between Didcot and Oxford across the river on the reach between Iffley Lock and Osney Lock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swift Ditch</span> Artificial channel near Oxford, England

The Swift Ditch is a 2 km (1.2 mi) long artificial channel that formed a short-cut for river traffic to and from Oxford, across a meander of the River Thames in England. It was formerly the primary navigation channel. With the main river, it creates Andersey Island on the left bank of the Thames opposite Abingdon-on-Thames. Within a poem published in 1632, the Water Poet John Taylor wrote:

At Abingdon the shoals are worse and worse
That Swift Ditch seems to be the better course

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culham Bridge</span> Bridge in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Culham Bridge is a medieval bridge crossing a present backwater of the River Thames in England at Culham, Oxfordshire, near the town of Abingdon. The bridge crosses Swift Ditch which was at one time the main navigation channel of the River Thames until Abingdon Lock was built in 1790. The bridge formerly carried the A415 road from Abingdon to Dorchester, Oxfordshire, but was superseded in 1928 by a modern road bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donnington Bridge Road</span> Road in south Oxford, England

Donnington Bridge Road is a road in south Oxford, England, in the estate of Donnington.

References

  1. River Thames Alliance. Bridge heights on the River Thames.
  2. Liz Woolley, Twentieth-century development in South Oxford (Local History in South Oxford)
  3. Official Brochure of the Opening of Donnington Bridge, 22 October 1962.
  4. 'Community unites for golden year of bridge', The Oxford Times, 29 October 2012.
  5. "Isis Canoe Club".
  6. "OXME.INFO | for young people in Oxfordshire".
  7. "Falcon Rowing & Canoeing Club | Contacts". Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
Next crossing upstream River Thames Next crossing downstream
Folly Bridge (road)Donnington Bridge Iffley Lock (pedestrian)