Building record 7173/2 - Bridgewater Canal Bridge No.69, Borrow's Bridge

<1> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 1479462 (Web Site). SCH6528.

The Bridgewater Canal received Royal Assent on 23 March 1759 and was the forerunner of all modern canals in that it followed a route independent of all existing natural watercourses. It was built by Francis Egerton, third Duke of Bridgewater, to enable coal from his mines at Worsley to be transported to Manchester and sold cheaply. The first section of the canal was opened on 17 July 1761 and in 1762 the Duke received sanction to extend his canal to the Liverpool tideway at Runcorn; this was later amended to connect with the new Trent and Mersey Canal at Preston Brook. The route between Preston Brook and Runcorn was fully opened in 1776.

The construction of the canal proved to be an obstacle to movement within pre-existing land holdings and farms. Consequently, accommodation bridges had to be built to permit the movement of goods and livestock from one side to the other. Borrow's Bridge was such a bridge; it was completed in about 1770 to a design by James Brindley, to carry a pre-existing road called Red Brow Lane, linking the villages of Norton to the west of the canal to Daresbury, to the east. It was originally called Borrow’s Bridge, but sometime later became known as Bridge No 69, conforming to what had become the standard practice elsewhere of the numeric numbering of canal bridges. Although built to the same basic design, all the accommodation bridges along the Bridgewater Canal deviate slightly in appearance from one and other dependent upon topography, the angle of approach of roads, and various historic repairs.

The canal was narrowed at each bridge to reduce the cost and time spent on construction and from the late nineteenth century these narrowed sections proved ideal locations to place cranes to lift stop planks, used to drop across the canal to hold back water, while sections of the canal were drained for repair. This arrangement can be found on the north-western side of Borrow's Bridge, along with a platform for the storage of the stop planks and a hand-cranked crane for lifting the planks in and out of place. It is unclear when the crane was installed, but map evidence indicates that it was sometime between 1897 and 1908. During the Second World War the Bridgewater Canal was a major alternative transport link between Manchester and Runcorn, and hence to the Liverpool Docks. Consequently, the cranes gained a vital strategic role to prevent the canal from being drained along its whole length by any bomb damage. The crane remains an operational piece of equipment that protects the local area from flooding in the event of a breach of the canal.

A single-span, segmental bridge arch with brick soffit and voussoirs, beneath a projecting ashlar sandstone band that springs from ashlar skew back stones, set within the splayed abutments. The west approach has a coursed sandstone retaining wall on its northern side, protected by a galvanised tube handrail supported by timber posts. The north parapet wall has flush gritstone coping stones with chamfered edges that step down over the curved wing walls to either side. A benchmark has been inscribed into a coping stone towards the western end of the north parapet. Both parapets show evidence of re-building with extensive patching in different types of brick. However, both retain their original design appearance with the exceptions of the stepped down ends of the south parapet, which have been replaced in brick. Canted brick buttressing is evident to the interior face of the eastern ends of the north parapet wall, where the road surface falls steeply away. The canal banks beneath the bridge have gritstone block retaining walls that are inclined and canted back to either side of the abutments. Secondary brickwork in-fills the former timber roller recesses in the corners of the east abutment. A late-twentieth century aluminium rectangular name plate is attached to the ashlar band of the west arch, which reads: BORROWS BRIDGE in green raised lettering, on a cream coloured ground. A level surface, formed against the north-west retaining wall, forms a storage area and working platform for the handling of stop planks, served by a hand-cranked crane. The crane is mounted onto a cast-iron holdfast bed by a central pivot post that supports moulded framed and panelled side plates, with external cog wheels, a cable drum, and a tubular jib that terminates in a pulley wheel. Slots to accept the stop planks exist in the retaining walls to either side of the canal on the northern side of the bridge.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ5681, 1908 (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Land Line and Master Map Vector Maps, 25/04/2022 (Maps and Plans). SCH4491.