Now I am pleased the bridge over the river has survived, despite plans to demolish it.
It dates from the 1880s, replaces an earlier wooden one built in 1816, and saved travelers having to call out the landlord of the pub who would ferry them across the water for a small fee.
Not that the erection of the bridges deprived him of the lucrative service of acting as the ferry man, because both bridges could only be traversed by paying a toll which was only abolished in the late 1940s.
I remember being told by a friend that his grandmother had evaded the toll by climbing on the bridge and working her way along by holding on to the girders.
This picture of the bridge is new to me. It was taken in 1960 and I smile every time I read the notice.
Location; The River Mersey,
Picture; the bridge over the water, 1960, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk
Not that the erection of the bridges deprived him of the lucrative service of acting as the ferry man, because both bridges could only be traversed by paying a toll which was only abolished in the late 1940s.
I remember being told by a friend that his grandmother had evaded the toll by climbing on the bridge and working her way along by holding on to the girders.
This picture of the bridge is new to me. It was taken in 1960 and I smile every time I read the notice.
Location; The River Mersey,
Picture; the bridge over the water, 1960, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk
What's the upper limit of children playing pooh sticks?
ReplyDeleteDuring WW2 my dad was in the Home Guard his job was to guard the bridge at night as there was a shortage of weapons they gave him a wooden rifle.
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