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Tame Valley Canal

Hi Viv, your post #32 made me wonder if the indentations in the bridge were merely following the design of earlier bridges in the area. When the Bridge Trust was set up (1600's? - I think by Nicholas Hodgetts but willing to be corrected) all the bridges were narrow and had them. The one at Perry Barr, opposite Wickes, is still there.
Handsworth Grammar school badge appears to show the same shapes and the funding for this came from the Bridge Trust didn't it?
 
Very plausible Lady P. As you say, the Walsall Road Bridge and Aldridge Road Bridge both seem to copy the old Zig Zag (Perry Pont) Bridge in style. The old thread link below suggests that the old Zig Zag Bridge (which is parallel with the Aldridge Road bridge) had rights to draw off water and to fish from there.

Maybe the indentations along the original Zig Zag bridge were designed originally as passing places (once a busy bridge used by carts) but later used for these other purposes. It's quite possible that the later Aldrdge Road and Walsall Road bridges incorporated the original Zig Zag features into their design with no specific purpose other than decorative.

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/zig-zag-bridges-of-brum.9557/

Viv.
 
Looking at the satellite view, I would say that this work was to strengthen the abutments for the new bridge bearing in mind that the road is on a made up embankment both sides of the bridge.
Tame Bridge.jpg
 
Always thought of these as "pack horse bridges" and imagined that the recesses enabled horses with panniers to pass each other in much the same way as passing places on narrow roads allow cars to pass. I always thought that the recesses on the bridge in Walsall Rd were design features, so mainly decorative.
 
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Always thought of these as "pack horse bridges" and imagined that the recesses enabled horses with panniers to pass each other in much the same way as passing places on narrow roads allow cars to pass. I always thought that the recesses on the bridge in Walsall Rd were design features, so mainly decorative.
I would agree that the recesses appear to be decorative design features. The Tame Valley Canal bridge on the Aldridge Road, about a quarter of a mile north of the 'zig-zag' River Tame bridge, never had recesses even when the road was relatively narrow up to the end of the 1950s. What would be interesting to see is an early photo of the A34 Walsall Road bridge but I cannot find one.
 
It does suggest here that some canal transportation to Hardy Spicer did take place from the Witton firm of Forgings and Presswork Ltd. (a subsidiary of HS since 1938) as a result of the Suez Crisis. The Suez crisis was in 1956 - I know I was in the RAF at the time and great staff movements were organized and curtailed pretty quickly due to pressure by the USA and much to the annoyance of France. It was the first occasion I was issued with petrol coupons.
I wonder how long this canal shipping lasted? Did it last until the canals closure whilst Spaghetti Junction was constructed and a new canal line built?
 
I remember the GEC in Birmingham was still generating their own electricity with coal in the 60's. All the coal boats lined up outside about half a mile from Salford Junction.
 
There has been discussion about the bridge at Tower Hill. Notice issued October 1943 refers to it being known as Freeth Bridge.

F6072910-F6E1-466A-8CDF-1E63FF9DB717.jpeg
 
James Walker was an important engineer in BCN terms- he was responsible for many improvement of the BCN including the Cannock Extension Canal
 
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