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Ice destroys bridges

I wrote last week about Kelham Hall just outside Newark and how the building of the present house was necessitated only as the result of a disastrous fire.

 

Rebuilding began in 1859 but was foreshadowed by another local catastrophe when in March, 1855, the bridge over the Trent just beside the hall was demolished by a massive sheet of ice carried on the spring flood waters.

The preceeding winter had been particularly harsh with ice on the Trent being so thick as to allow wagons and horses to cross with impunity.

Cricket matches had been played on its surface involving teams from East Stoke, Morton and Elston, while at Fiskerton sheep were roasted on the ice, the meat being given to the poor.

When the thaw came, therefore, obstacles such as Kelham Bridge (then only a structure of timber and iron) proved no match for the great sheets of ice which were released.

The first written mention of a bridge at Kelham dates from 1225. During the Civil War of 1642-46, Kelham Bridge was destroyed for military purposes and replaced by a bridge of boats - a temporary structure put up by the Parliamentarians.

The bridge of boats had been located somewhat upstream of the present bridge, the road then passing between Kelham church and the hall.

No precise evidence has been found to suggest exactly when the road was re-routed to its present position although it is thought likely that it came about after the Civil War when a new bridge was built.

As Kelham Hall superseded Averham as the Sutton family's principal residence, it is assumed that they preferred not to have the road running through their grounds.

At first, however, the Suttons (stout Royalists during the Civil War) refused liability for building a new bridge, pointing out that it had been destroyed as a deliberate act of war and as such should be paid for by the county authorities.

The controversy dragged on for more than 20 years until, finally, a special jury of the Nottinghamshire Quarter Sessions found against the family and ordered that Lord Robert Manners-Sutton bear the entire cost of the new structure.

It has not been ascertained at what stage of this dispute a new bridge was built but it was certainly in place by 1762.

Built once again of timber, over subsequent years there are records of continuous expenditures for repairs: between 1777 and 1815, for instance, a total of £2,426 was spent on maintaining the structure, perhaps hinting at further damage caused by the vagaries of the river.

John Throsby, writing about this time in his updated version of Dr Robert Thoroton's Antiquities of Notts describes the bridge at Kelham as being: "of singular construction, apparently the most complex ever formed".

The case of liability arose again in 1814 and 1832, and by 1842 the bridge was in such a state of disrepair that its moorings on the Kelham side were being undercut and worn away.

Notices were posted around Newark warning travellers that the bridge was unsafe for heavy loads and the following year the Nottingham Mercury reported that: "as some youths were going over Kelham Bridge, and one of them was walking near the rail, the groundwork gave way, and his legs went through, and had not his companions assisted him, he must inevitably have fallen into the river and perished."

A detailed report of the bridge's condition was submitted at the county Quarter Sessions in January 1849 and it was ordered that it be either put in an efficient state of repair or completely rebuilt. In April, 1849, Mr W. H. Barlow submitted designs for a new bridge of five spans which were readily accepted.

Once again the bridge was to be built of timber, but this time supported by wrought iron screw piles and girders with stone abutments.

By the late summer of 1850 the new bridge - located close to the previous structure - was open to the public and generally considered a great improvement.

Unfortunately it was to have only a very short life when, after only five years, it was disastrously and spectacularly destroyed by a huge block of ice.

On the morning of the accident, with the thaw already setting in, there was great concern over the safety of the bridge and a boat was despatched down river to break up the ice in its vicinity.

Even as they worked, however, the workmen saw a huge piece of ice heading towards them at an unstoppable pace.

The Advertiser reported that the ice, estimated to weigh several tons, "struck with such force the two rows of piles nearest Kelham, that it snapped them immediately and caused half the bridge to fall".

Only moments before, five heavily-ladened carts had passed over the bridge and a young man, who had just reached the centre had to retrace his steps immediately to the Newark side.

It was a matter of pure good chance that no lives were lost.

The dramatic nature of the event made the national press when this week's illustration was published in The Illustrated London News (by whose permission it is reproduced here).

In June, 1855, designs for a new bridge - this time much sturdier and made of brick and stone - were presented by Henry Carr. Carr's bridge - the one which survives today - was constructed swiftly and effectively although not always to Mr Carr's liking.

An acrimonious correspondence broke out between himself and the contractors, with Carr complaining (among other things) that: "The bricks seem to come clean and good from the machine, but they are so roughly handled afterwards that very few are fit for their work... Your quarry men - I cannot call them masons -spoil the work after it is done..."

Things, however, improved and since 1858, with the completed bridge being taken under the care of the county highways authority, it has stood proud ever since.

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