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Title: Bridge at Fallingroyd, Hebden Bridge - ALC00141
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Title
Bridge at Fallingroyd, Hebden Bridge - ALC00141
Description
This was the original bridge on A646 between Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd. Note the sign 'Death Trap' because of the sharp right-angled bend. The bridge was rebuilt and further rebuilt when the canal was opened up. To the left of this photograph stands Maudes Clog factory. Later it became Walkeys.
The traveller from Hebden Bridge to Mytholmroyd by road can see the original turnpike road of 1770 in the field to the left of the former Tythe Barn. The first bridge was needed when the Rochdale Canal was taken under the road about 1800. It would have been the usual type of canal bridge, eight feet wide and fairly hump-backed. It would have needed to be improved or even replaced when the road was brought to its present level in 1825.
The sharp right-angled bend as the bridge crossed the canal presented no difficulty to horse drawn traffic, but, when traffic became motorised at the beginning of the last century, the long, straight, flat approach to the bridge invited an increase in speed and then a quick braking at the bridge and this combination led to numerous accidents, some fatal, hence the Death Trap sign.
The stone bridge was replaced by a wider iron bridge and attempts were made to make the approach safer, though accidents still occurred. Later the canal was culverted in order to straighten the bend in the road.
It was in the 1980s that the restoration of the Rochdale Canal was effected here by taking it through a fifty yard metal tube under the road.
The traveller from Hebden Bridge to Mytholmroyd by road can see the original turnpike road of 1770 in the field to the left of the former Tythe Barn. The first bridge was needed when the Rochdale Canal was taken under the road about 1800. It would have been the usual type of canal bridge, eight feet wide and fairly hump-backed. It would have needed to be improved or even replaced when the road was brought to its present level in 1825.
The sharp right-angled bend as the bridge crossed the canal presented no difficulty to horse drawn traffic, but, when traffic became motorised at the beginning of the last century, the long, straight, flat approach to the bridge invited an increase in speed and then a quick braking at the bridge and this combination led to numerous accidents, some fatal, hence the Death Trap sign.
The stone bridge was replaced by a wider iron bridge and attempts were made to make the approach safer, though accidents still occurred. Later the canal was culverted in order to straighten the bend in the road.
It was in the 1980s that the restoration of the Rochdale Canal was effected here by taking it through a fifty yard metal tube under the road.
Creator
Crossley Westerman
Source
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Date
No date yet
Rights
PHDA - Alice Longstaff Collection
Relation
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Identifier
ALC00141.tif
Collection
Citation
Crossley Westerman, “Bridge at Fallingroyd, Hebden Bridge - ALC00141,” Pennine Horizons Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://penninehorizons.org/items/show/13000.
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