Norway Cut Swing Bridge - Finland Quay, London, UK
N 51° 29.741 W 000° 02.202
30U E 705689 N 5709113
This pedestrian swingbridge straddles Norway Cut a narrow strip of water connecting Greenland Dock to a small basin on its north west side called Norway Dock. The bridge was moved here in 1986 from its previous location at the nearby South Dock.
Waymark Code: WM125N6
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/05/2020
Views: 1
The bridge splits in the middle and was designed for both halves to swing horizontally and align along the length of the lock when in the open position.
A plaque, attached to one of the granite blocks, tells us:
Norway Cut Swing Bridge
This footbridge, with its granite paving,
formerly stood across the entrance lock
to South Dock and dates from about the
time of its reconstruction by the
Commercial Dock Co in the 1850s.
It moved here in 1986.
The bridge is Grade II listed with the entry at the Historic England website advising:
Formerly known as: Swing bridge spanning South Lock.
Swing bridge. 1855. Engineer James Walker, built by Walker, Burges and Cooper. Formerly spanning South Dock entrance lock, relocated c1987.
Wrought-iron plates and angles. Based on cast-iron precedents but owes its elegant lightness to use of wrought-iron with countersunk rivet heads, an early surviving example of riveted ironwork in bridges. Some welded steelwork discretely added in refurbishment.
Original granite kerbs and paving reinstated at the new site.
This is the second oldest wrought-iron bridge in the London Docklands.