7 Old Wilmington Bridge 1853 

This was the original wrought iron railway swing bridge, erected by Thomas Cabry in 1853, to carry the Victoria, or East Dock, Railway over the River Hull from Sculcoates in the west to Wilmington in the east, destined for the eastern docks in Hull (Engineering, 1908).

Due to it being 1853, there are relatively few photographs of the bridge surviving from the time, so we are fortunate to have found three from circa 1900 to 1906 and also to be able to share copies of the original plans that we’ve restored to enable us to publish them here. I’ve seperated the cross sections and detail in a second gallery. The best way to view any of the plans, as well as the photographs, is to open them in the gallery first.

The maps below the photographs are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland, two show the original bridge and environs in 1853 along with a later map from 1891 showing details of the further development of Sculcoates.

You can click on each plan and zoom in to see the detail.

There is a comprehensive article on the building of the existing Wilmington Bridge on the Forgotten Relics website here http://www.forgottenrelics.org/bridges/wilmington-swing-bridge/ which also contains details and photographs of both bridges.

Forgotten Relics “records and celebrates the UK’s disused railway structures, still standing as monuments to the period of ambition, courage and endeavour during which they were built”.

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