Continuing our series on the bridges over the River Aire and canals, we now leave Crown Point Bridge and walk south along the towpath until we come to our next and final bridge the Hunslet and South Accommodation Bridge.
Very little information has been found about this road and bridge. It was a road that ran from the Leeds & Wakefield Turnpike on Hunslet Lane /Road to the Leeds & York and the Leeds & Selby Turnpikes on York Road via a road that became known as Accommodation Road with a bridge over the River Aire.
In July and August 1825 the Leeds Mercury reported that several meetings had been held and the sum of £16,000 had been subscribed to the project. On 12 November 1827 a notice of Application to Parliament for an iron suspension bridge was made and on which included roads from the bridge to the Leeds & Wakefield Turnpike at Hunslet to the Leeds & Selby Road near Black Bank (now Ivy Street) then to the Leeds & Roundhay Turnpike at Harehills Lane.
George Leather of Bradford was named as the Engineer and a small cost saving measure on the cast iron bridge was that it was to be floored in timber instead of iron plating. In June 1828 the Royal Assent was received for the Act of Parliament.
George Leather chose to use the same design of bridge that he had used at Monk Bridge, namely what should be called a bow and string suspension bridge. Instead of using chains as the usual means of suspension two strong cast iron span over the whole space between two abutments. These arcs spring from below the proposed level of the roadway but rise considerably above it.
From the abutments the traverse beams which support the platform of the bridge are suspended by malleable iron rods. On the bridge the space between the abutments or span of the suspending arch is 152 feet wide and spans both the River Aire and the towpath with small land arches of stone on either side. The footpaths are on the outside of the two suspending arcs with the carriageway passing between them, these are each 44 feet to give a total bridge length of 240 feet.
Each of the suspending arcs is cast in six parts and dowelled together and the ends fitted into cups cast on the springing or foundation plates to form a ball and socket joint. The cast iron transverse beams which support the roadway are suspended at about every five feet. The roadway is of timber, this was to save cost as against using iron, the timber having iron guide plates on either side; while on top of the planking were also laid malleable iron bars ranging longitudinally for the wheel tracks and transversely for the horse tracks. The foundations of the bridge rest upon bearing piles and the total expense was about £4,200.
The approach roads known as Accommodation Road (Upper and South) were not built as originally proposed but entered York Road at the Riding School which was about half a mile to the west of Black Bank. The extension to the Leeds & Roundhay Road was never carried out.
The Trustees held an Annual General Meeting on 30 April 1830 and it is thought that the bridge and its road were open by then. It would appear that the road and bridge were not well used because in April 1831 at a Special Meeting a proposal was made that the tolls should be reduced. However, it wasn’t until 17 February 1860 that the road and bridge was made free of tolls.
By the 1890s could no longer cope with the volume of traffic crossing the river so this original bridge was demolished in 1899 and replaced by a lattice girder bridge once again this as with Monk Bridge was designed by Thomas Hewson the City Engineer with a span of 146 feet and a width of 50 feet.
In 1992 Thomas Hewson’s bridge was replaced by a new Inner Ring Road bridge that was completed alongside the Hewson bridge before this too was demolished leaving a much altered area in the district.
While you’re here, can we ask a favour?
South Leeds Life is published by a not-for-profit social enterprise. We keep our costs as low as possible but we’ve been hit by increases in the print costs for our monthly newspaper which have doubled in the last two years.
Could you help support local community news by making a one off donation, or even better taking out a supporters subscription?
Donate here, or sign up for a subscription at bit.ly/SLLsubscribe