Tramway Bridge - Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire - Arch Bridges on Waymarking.com

The Tramway Bridge which crosses the Avon 100m west of Clopton Bridge. It was built during the Imperial period with eight red brick arches, to carry the horse tramway. It is now a footbridge.

"Tramway bridge, now footbridge. 1823 with later parapets. John Rastrick, engineer; for Stratford and Moreton Tramway. Brick with ashlar dressings. 8 elliptical arches, that to south east end a flood arch, with piers on cutwaters to both sides. Ashlar-coped brick parapets. Built to carry a horse tramway from the Stratford Wharf to Moreton-in-Marsh. The tramway, which was originally intended to be extended to London, had a branch to Shipston-on-Stour. It was bought by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway in 1847 and closed, except for the branch line, in 1881; details of history given on a restored truck (not included) preserved approx. 60m to north of bridge. The bridge is an important element in the landscape around the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre."

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It formed part of the Stratford and Moreton Tramway
"a 16-mile (25-km) long horse-drawn wagonway from the canal basin at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire to Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire, with a branch to Shipston-on-Stour.

The tramway was intended to carry Black Country coal to the rural districts of southern Warwickshire via the Stratford-on-Avon Canal, and limestone and agricultural produce northwards. The parliamentary act for the line was passed in 1821 and construction was completed in 1826, the route having been surveyed by the railway promoter William James and engineered by John Urpeth Rastrick. The branch to Shipston was built in 1836.

The northern section of the line from Shipston to Stratford continued to be used as a horse-drawn branch-line carrying lime until the 1880s, when it fell into disuse. The tracks were lifted in 1918 as part of the war effort, and the line was formally abandoned in 1926, exactly 100 years after it had been opened.

The tramway bridge across the River Avon at Stratford remains in use by pedestrians. One of the horse-drawn wagons, which belonged to Thomas Hutchings of Newbold Lime Works, is preserved near the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon. This would probably have been Newbold on Stour, rather than Newbold-on-Avon."

SOURCE - (visit link)

Length of bridge: 300ft What type of traffic does this bridge support?: bicycle, pedestrians What kind of gap does this bridge cross?: River Avon Date constructed: 1823 Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: No Name of road or trail the bridge services: National Cycle Rte 41, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6YS Location: Stratford-upon-Avon Height of bridge: Not listed

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