Bridges - 39 Norris Bridges PREVIOUS       NEXT

After slightly less than one mile from Eelmoor Bridge, the two Norris Bridges are reached.     All the original accomodation bridges built by John Pinkerton during the canal's construction were brick-arched and the original Norris Bridge near Pyestock was no exception.     Built in 1792, it had, unusually, though in companion with at least one other bridge (Langman's on the Woodham flight in Surrey), a plaster rendering.     It is not known when the plaster was applied to either bridge, as it was not original, as this old hand-coloured postcard view shows.     When in the 1960s the road it carried (Ively Road) was being upgraded, a new bridge of concrete and steel construction was built over the top of the original one.     In 1978 Hampshire County Council wanted to remove the old structure but with the canal listed as a conservation area it could not be demolished without the permission of the Department of the Environment.     And it came tumbling down.....

This solved the Council's problem but presented it with the task of removing the rubble.... However, old age and nature stepped in and at the end of August 1979 the old bridge suddenly collapsed into the canal.   Artist's impression In 1992 the nearby Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) became the Defence, Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), and following this change later redevelopment plans for the area included building a second bridge alongside the 1960s existing one.   [photos: Mrs Bunyan, Philip Pratt] NEXT - The second Norris Bridge BACK

Last updated June 2001