The brick built arch bridge located on Queens Park Drive in Crewe crosses Valley Brook.
The Valley Brook (River Waldron) is a minor tributary of the River Weaver, that flows into the boating lake in Queens Park. (
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Queens Park Lake.
"An exceptional feature of the Park is the extensively landscaped man-made lake. The lake was created by the use of a dam on the west side of the River Waldron (Valley Brook) way back in 1883 flooding about five acres of land. As well as the creation of a dam, an area around the River Waldron to a depth of about five feet was dug out. Then by the method of "puddling" the clay, the bottom was made water-tight.
For just about 30 years the river flowed through the lake creating, I hasten to add, a few problems. The river over these early years brought many tons of silt, making problems along the banks of the lake. By 1913, the decision to culvert the river trying to alleviate these troubles was taken, so from that date the river flowed underneath the lake.
The Lake loses water on a regular basis through evaporation and leakage. Therefore, what better method is there than using the river to refill it. A wormscrew made in Crewe Works back 1913, still in constant use, enables that to happen. The River Waldron by the use of sluice gates can be diverted to refill the lake.
One of the benefits that culverting achieved was that the Lake became cleaner, resulting in it being used by locals for swimming. In fact the west side of the lake was deepened to ten foot. This enabled diving boards to be constructed which were in constant use until their removal in 1936." SOURCE: (
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Queens Park Lake.
"South of the Pavillion, the ground drops away to the artificial 4.5 acre lake, formed in 1887 to 1888 from scarping the Valley Brook which culverts underneath the lake waters. Lake waters were emptied, bed de-silted and some 4,000 tonnes of silt removed, lake edges were reconstructed and fish returned 2010 to 2011. The perimeter path runs around its south side, and another winding path along the north bank. The central lake islands were re-landscaped in 1968 as a memorial to those who fought in Burma during the Second World War, refurbished in 2016." SOURCE: (
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"Valley Brook in Crewe is a small urban watercourse.
It is failing water quality standards because of upstream inputs of nutrients, mainly from sewage works and agriculture, and because it has been constrained and altered as Crewe has developed.
United Utilities have committed to upstream improvements at Audley sewage treatment works which will lead to significant improvements in water quality before 2024." SOURCE: (
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Queens Park in Crewe is an historic Victorian Grade II* listed public park.
The park has four entrances, the main one is on Victoria Avenue and the others on Queens Park Drive. The park is open daily from 8:00am until dusk.
The park was designed by Edward Kemp and laid out by railway engineer Francis Webb and Richard Moon who was the Mayor of Crewe in 1888. It was dedicated in 1887 and opened to the public in 1888.
The Grade II* listed description given by Historic England can be seen at the following link: (
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