Buildings of Interest

Description

Deep Pit railway footbridge WBS/24, including brick piers, northern setted access path and southern access ramp.

History

The Deep Pit railway footbridge was built in 1887 to cross the line of the Liverpool and Bury Railway. The line was already laid out by 1846 but was not opened until November 1848, by which time it had become part of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, and then part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR), which was incorporated in 1847. In July 1885 it was decided to widen the line here, under the resident engineer Augustus Topp. Topp probably designed the Hindley footbridge and it was wrought and built by Walker Bros who were founded in 1866 and moved to Pagefield foundry in Wigan in the 1870s. (The firm went on to make the successful Pagefield motor lorries and cars). The blue engineering bricks of the pier and abutment were made at the Ruabon works of the main contractors for the widening works, Monk and Newell. The scheme was approved in 1887, and the widened lines (9 tracks in total, including a siding from Ladies Lane colliery) opened in 1889.

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