Bridge 9 Over The Shropshire Union Canal (Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal - Main Line) - Brewood, UK - Arch Bridges on Waymarking.com

The Canal
Before canals became popular in the UK there was a port on the River Dee at Chester.

After the Trent and Mersy Canal was built a loat of boat traffic diverted to the canal and Chester was worried about losing all its trade and so proposed a canal from the River Dee to connect to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich with a branch to Nantwich.

After the canal was built to Nantwich the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal was built to connect Nantwich to Authley near Wolverhampton. Eventually these canals and a number of others merged to form the Shropshire Union Canal.

Chillington
"The manor of Chillington has remained in the same family since 1178, which since that time has been known by the name of Giffard. Peter Giffard (d 1746), who inherited in 1718, began the rebuilding of the house and laid out a formal landscape around it, a landscape which was altered considerably in the third quarter of the century when Thomas Giffard (d 1776), who inherited the estate in 1748 two years after his half-brother's death, brought in Lancelot Brown (1716-83) and James Paine (1717-89) to enlarge and alter the park. Giffard's son, also Thomas (d 1823), continued his father's improvements by enlarging the house. Since that time, alterations to both house and grounds have been relatively minor.

The most imposing approach to the Hall is via the drive which runs south-west for 1.5km up the centre of the Upper Avenue, described in 1727 as 'lately made by Peter Giffard' (VCH 1959, 29). The Upper Avenue ends at Giffard's Cross on Port Lane. Here is an C18 gateway (listed grade II) with four tall, rusticated ashlar piers with ball ornaments flanking a central double cast-iron gate and two single outer gates. On its north side is Giffard's Cross Lodge (listed grade II), a small, late C18, red-brick Palladian building. A wooden cross (listed grade II) within the garden marks the site where, c 1510, a panther was reputedly shot by Sir John Giffard (d 1556). From here the drive continues east for a further 1.5km up the Lower Avenue, shown on a map of 1775. Midway along its length Lower Avenue crosses over the Shropshire Union Canal via an ornamental bridge known as the Avenue Bridge (listed grade II), of c 1840 and designed by Thomas Telford. An early C19 pair of one-and-a-half-storey brick cottages at its end presumably served as a gate lodge to the similarly dated stone-walled gateway which led from the minor road here into the Avenue." link

The Bridge
The bridge is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building.
"Accommodation bridge over canal. C1830. Engineer Thomas Telford. Brick with stone coped parapet, Single rounded arch and parapet band." link

What type of traffic does this bridge support?: Pedestrians What kind of gap does this bridge cross?: The Shropshire Union Canal (Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal - Main Line) Date constructed: 1830 Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: Yes Name of road or trail the bridge services: Unnamed track Location: Brewood, Staffordshire Length of bridge: Not listed Height of bridge: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/29/2021 Grahamthegray visited it