Bridges No.38 - Staines Railway Bridge

The first bridge encountered at Staines when travelling upstream is the railway bridge. This sits on a stretch of track between Egham and Staines stations on the line running from Reading to London Waterloo. This is the same line that crosses the river over Richmond Railway Bridge. Staines Railway Bridge was designed by John Gardner for the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway. The SW&WJR was very quickly to become part of the London & South Western Railway. The bridge is built from wrought iron plate girders and rests on two piers consisting of three cast-iron cylinders filled with concrete. The bridge was built by Cochrane & Co and opened for service in 1856. This was the year when the line from Staines was extended out to Ascot and Wokingam. At Wokingham the line then connected with the South Eastern Railway line into Reading.

Bridges No.37 - M3 Motorway Bridge

The bridge carrying the M3 over the Thames is the first motorway bridge you encounter when travelling upstream, a short distance from Chertsey Bridge and Lock. The M3 bridge is a cantilever bridge and was built in 1971 to a design by Posford, Pavry & Partners with Courtney Theobald acting as consulatant architects. It is built from high tensile steel. Although a single structure with a uniform design, the two carridgeways of the motorway are carried on separate sections and are at slightly different heights. The downstream deck was brought into use first in 1970, with the upstream deck being used from March 1971 when the bridge was completed. However, the bridge forms part of the motorway that was not fully opened until 1974. The original section of the M3 ran from junction 3 (Bagshot) to junction 8 (Michedever). The London bound extension to junction 1 was opened in 1974.

Bridges No.36 - Chertsey Bridge

Given the relatively high population of this part of the country, the stretch of Thames between Kingston and Staines has very few bridges. There is a long stretch from Walton with no road bridge, until the river reaches Chertsey. This bridge at Chertsey is old in comparison to some of the others further downstream. The present day bridge dates from 1785. But the history of a bridge here goes back much further. Henry VI granted the people of Chertsey a licence to build a bridge in 1410. The Abbot of Chertsey saw that the bridge was built and maintained. It was of timber construction and stood about 25 metres downstream of the present day crossing.

Being a wooden bridge it needed regular repairs due to floodwater damage and bridge hits by barges. By 1662 the residents of Chertsey were campaigning for a new bridge, but matters remained unresolved until the late 18th century. In 1779 the bridge was once again in a parlous state. The Justices of Surrey and Middlesex met and obtained estimates for a new stone bridge. James Paine, an architect from Addlestone designed the bridge and work got underway in the early 1780s. The original plan had been for a five arch bridge, but when this was completed there had clearly been an error in the measurements - the bridge didn't reach either bank! Further money had to be spent to build additional spans on both banks, but all was complete by 1785. But the bridge still stands to this day, and remains one of the Thames' oldest and elegant bridges.

Bridges No.35 - Walton Bridge

Walton Bridge is not going to win any awards for beauty. This crossing at Walton-on-Thames has a long history, and my thanks go to the excellent resource on the bridge on the Surrey County Council website. There have, to date, been five bridges at Walton, the sixth should be on its way in the not too distant future.

THE 1750 BRIDGE
The first Walton Bridge was built in 1750 to replace a long standing ferry service. It was funded by a local landowner, Samuel Dicker, MP for Plymouth. Dicker was first and foremost a business man, with plantations in Jamaica, but he was also an MP and he would have travelled through Walton to reach Westminster from his constituency. There was also the businessman's nouse of reaping some tolls from one of the few physical river crossing at the time. Construction work began in 1748 and was built from wood, using an unsual lattice structure. It was designed by William Etheridge. The bridge is most famously captured in a painting of 1754 by Caneletto (shown above) where the design is very striking. To me it looks quite a modern design and reminds me of the Olympic stadium currently being constructed in Beijing.

The bridge, like many of the Thames's early wooden bridge, became expensive to maintain. In 1760 Dicker died and ownership passed to his nephew Michael Dicker Sanders. In 1778 John Smeaton reported on the bridge's condition and recommend it me taken down and replaced by a brick arch. Five years later the bridge was dismantled to make way for the construction of the second bridge.

THE 1788 BRIDGE
The second bridge followed Smeaton's recommendation for a brick built bridge and James Pain designed it, also making use of stone. Five years passed between the demolition of the first bridge and the completion of Pain's structure. The bridge stood for 73 years until disaster struck in August 1859. The twon central arches collapsed suddenly into the river. The theory was that settlement of the foundations under the central pier led to the collapse. There was an urgent need for the bridge to be replaced and until that could happen ferries returned to ply their trade at Walton.

THE 1864 BRIDGE
Following the collapse the then owner, Thomas Newman Allen, promoted a Parliamentary Bill for a new bridge at Walton, together with two further bridges downstream to fill the gap between Walton and Hampton Court. These two bridges never became a reality, but Walton Bridge was rebuilt and opened in 1864. The bridge was of iron girder construction resting on brick and stone piers. It was designed by E T Murray. On the Walton side of the river a brick arch viaduct was also built acorss the area of floodplain. This section of the bridge remains to this day. Tolls were removed in 1870 when ownership of Kingston and Walton bridges passed to the Metropolitan Board of Works.

In 1940 the bridge was damaged during a German air raid. The structure was weakened as a result and weight limits were imposed. After the war, and the construction of the fourth bridge, the third bridge remained in use for pedestrians and cyclists but by the 1980s it became to costly to maintain it and it was demolished in 1985.

THE 1953 BRIDGE
With the 1864 bridge become ever more weaker following the war, Middlesex County Council built a bridge immediatley alongside it in 1953. It was intended to be built quickly and to act as a temporary crossing before a more permanent solution was found. The bridge was known as the 'Callender-Hamilton' bridge. However, the bridge still stands to this day on the downstream side of the crossing and is the section shown in my main picture at the top of this entry.

Given the temporary nature of the bridge it was never designed to require long-term maintenance. For instance the metal work on the bridge was never painted, and no waterproofing was provided between the roadway and the steel supporting plates. When the third bridge was demomlished in 1985 the fourth bridge also underwent a thorough inspection and a weight limited was imposed. The plan was to allow continued use of the bridge, with maintenance work as required, until such a time as permanent replacement could be constructed. However, by 1993 this had still not happened, and further assessments of the bridge's structure led to a further reduction of the weight limit.

In June 1998 the then six-monthly safety inspections showed the need for more strengthening works, but once again the weight limit had to be reduced, down to 7.5 tonnes. The fourth bridge remains in place today, but like the third bridge before it, it is now only used by pedestrians and cyclists.

THE 1999 BRIDGE
The 1998 inspection of the fourth bridge led to the urgent requirement for a new bridge for road traffic. That inspection determined that it would now be too costly to continue to maintain the fourth bridge. The fifth bridge was built in the same position as the third, alongside the 1953 bridge. The 1999 bridge is was built very quickly. An application to Government for funding for a temporary crossing was submitted in August 1998. Planning permission was granted in June 1999 and construction began in August. By December the bridge was complete.

THE 2009 BRIDGE?

A condition of the planning permission for the 1999 bridge was that bridge would only be in place for a maximum of 10 years. Therefore a brand new bridge is required for February 2009, although that deadline is looking increasingly ambitious. In 2003 different design options were made available for public consulatation. The Tiered Arch design, shown above, was subsequently selected in Sepetember 2003. The scheme also includes some improvements to the road layout in the immediate area of the bridge. For this a compulsory purchase order in required, but in December 2006 the Department of Transport decided not to confirm the CPOs drafted by Surrey County Council. Consequently the scheme is on hold until the issues are resolved, and it is now highly unlikely that a new bridge will be in place by 2009 and some maintenance work will be needed on the current crossing.

Bridges No.34 - Hampton Court Bridge

Hampton Court Bridge, like the nearby Palace and the area around it, has a long history. The first bridge was built here in 1752/53 at a point where an older ferry crossing was in existence. The bridge was wooden in construction and comprised of seven arches in the Chinoisere style. This is essentialy a Western European design style that influenced heavily by traditional Chinese design. The bridge adopted a style similar to the Willow Pattern seen on blue plates. The the bridge only lasted 25 years before being replaced by a second wooden bridge in 1778, which was a little more robust.

Almost 100 years later, in 1864, work began to replace the bridge once more, this time to a design by E T Murray. The new bridge was built from wrought iron lattice girders resting of four cast iron columns. The approach the the bridge was by way of crenallated brick walls, the remains of one still standing today on the south bank. The bridge opened in 1866.

The present day bridge is the fourth for Hampton Court and was designed by W P Robinson and Sir Edward Lutyens. The new design was created to complement the proportions of the nearby Palace. Work began in 1930 and the bridge is constructed from reinforced concrete with a facing of red bricks. The bridge opened in July 1933, on the same day as both Chiswick and Twickenham Bridges.

The Walk - A Summary So Far

Now that I've done 10 days of the walk I thought I'd tally up how far I've walked so far. I started over the Easter weekend, which now seems a long time ago. But most weekends I've been busy with other things, that have meant I've not been able to do the walk. The journey breaks down as follows:

Day 1 Crayford Ness - Charlton 10.5 miles
Day 2 Charlton - Rotherhithe 9.3 miles
Day 3 Rotherhithe - Vauxhall 4.6 miles
Day 4 Vauxhall - Barnes 9.7 miles
Day 5 Barnes - Kingston 9.6 miles
Day 6 Kingston - Shepperton 9.2 miles
Day 7 Shepperton - Staines 5.6 miles
Day 8 Staines - Datchet 6.5 miles
Day 9 Datchet - Maidenhead 8.9 miles
Day 10 Maidenhead - Marlow 7.5 miles
TOTAL 81.4 miles

Day 10: Maidenhead - Marlow

I’ve often started these accounts of the daily walks with an account of the weather, and today was a mild day (for December) with some pleasant sunny spells. And the warmer temperatures that we seem to have had this year have led us to have a particularly wet autumn. Since I arrived at Maidenhead at the end of October, a lot of water has passed under the bridge, and on arriving at Maidenhead Bridge this morning, there was still a lot of water passing underneath it. The river was high, as I’d suspected, but the Environment Agency website said that there was no flood warning for this stretch of the Thames, so all should be well for a walk to Marlow. But the river was definitely higher, flowing faster, and browner – a sign of more silt and mud being carried.

The path from Maidenhead follows the road north to Cookham as far as Boulter’s Lock. This entrance to the lock is marked by a small hump-backed bridge, and it was a surpise to see the lock immediately behind it. Since I last went walking the river has closed up for the winter. Many of the locks are now shut, some are being refurbished and the cruisers are tied up in the marinas. After Boulters, the path moves off road once more, passing some large houses once more, including Maidenhead Court. Oddly, these big piles are larger than the houses south of Maidenhead, but they don’t look as grand. Many seem to have been converted into flats and retirement homes with the odd harsh warning sign to deter trespassers – one giving details of laser powered concealed CCTV.

Soon there are just fields and trees all around and the path starts to get a bit muddy. To the right, on the opposite bank, the high escarpment of the Cliveden Estate is showing off the last of its autumn colour. If I’d been down here a couple of weeks ago I suspect it’d have been a riot of oranges, browns and red, but by now most of the leaves had dropped. Sadly you don’t get a view of Cliveden itself, but you do see the manicured lawns and chocolate box cottages on the bankside, and a round tower folly high up on the hill.
At this point, where there used to be a ferry for the horse drawn boats, the path turns away from the river, down pathways and lanes towards Cookham village. Cookham is a typical English village with a scienic view down the high street. Around the corner and the path passes through churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, a beautiful 12th century church with square tower. This leads straight down to the river, just upstream of Cookham Bridge. The riverside path passes through Cookham Reach Boat Sailing Club and then onto the open marsh land.

Through a gate and we’re onto National Trust land, signed as Cock Marsh. This leads the path up to the Bourne End Railway Bridge where the path passes across the footbridge towards Bourne End village. Turn left and down a narrow path way to the riverside boathouses. The river now turns westwards and once past the long run of these boathouses the path comes to the edge of Spade Oak Meadows. Here the train line from Marlow comes very close to the river and very close to the path. Here the trains run very slowly – perhaps because of the waterlogging.

I assume that the river did flood over here earlier in the week, as the meadows, particularly the first field, are very very muddy (I should have worn my walking boots!). The sun was getting low now and reflecting off the river as we approached the large villas on the opposite bank, some clinging to the slopes of Winter Hill. Some are particularly stunning (but the best are hidden on the other side of the island – having sailed down this stretch in the summer I can vouch for that). Then the path curves round and heads towards Marlow. Under the by-pass bridge and into a park the path moves away. Here its worth just nipping down a side path to see a stunning view of Marlow from Marlow Lock. Historically the horse drawn barges had to untie their horses along this stretch and the horses were led around Marlow streets and the Seven Corner Alley, a narrow high-walled path around the backs of Marlow’s buildings. Emerging from the alley I drew my walk to an end and headed for the station.