- Gasworks Bridge
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Gasworks Bridge 
Carries Footpath Crosses River Thames Locale Oxford Material Iron Height 12 feet 2 inches (3.71 m)[1] Number of spans 2 Piers in water 1 Opened 1882 Coordinates 51°44′47″N 1°15′49″W / 51.746252°N 1.263636°WCoordinates: 51°44′47″N 1°15′49″W / 51.746252°N 1.263636°W The Gasworks Bridge, also known as the Old Gasworks Bridge, is an iron bridge across the River Thames at Oxford in England. It is a pedestrian bridge linking St Ebbes to the Grandpont nature reserve. It crosses the river on the reach between Iffley Lock and Osney Lock.
The bridge was constructed by the Oxford Gaslight and Coke Company in 1882 for a short railway branch line to carry coal to the gas works from the main Cherwell Valley Line at a junction just south of Osney Rail Bridge. The bridge was built by assembling sections on the south bank of the river and floating them into position. The gas works was demolished in 1960; no evidence of the railway line is visible on the footbridge.
Since the demolition of the gas works, other names have been used for the bridge. For a few years after the closure of the railway it appears to have been crossed by a private road[2], and the Environment Agency refers to the bridge simply as "Road Bridge",[3] although no road now crosses it. The bridge is now usually referred to by its old name[4]. It has occasionally been referred to as Osney Footbridge[5], although the bridge is some distance from Osney, and that name is also used for a different bridge.[6]
See also
- Crossings of the River Thames
References
- ^ River Thames Alliance. Bridge heights on the River Thames.
- ^ Curl, James Stevens (1977). The Erosion of Oxford. Oxford Illustrated Press Ltd. p. 117. ISBN 0-902280-40-6.
- ^ Environment Agency: Users Guide to the Thames, p.41
- ^ for example, by the leader of Oxford City Council ("My hidden Oxford"), by Sustrans and by Cyclox
- ^ Oxford Times 19 Aug 2010
- ^ The Osney Lane bridge in Geograph
External links
Next crossing upstream River Thames Next crossing downstream Osney Rail Bridge (railway) Gasworks Bridge Grandpont Bridge (pedestrian) Categories:- Pedestrian bridges across the River Thames
- Bridges in Oxford
- Bridges completed in 1882
- Thames Path
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