Thursday, 21 May 2026

Wilford Toll Bridge, Nottingham built by Andrew Handyside in 1870, Demolished 1974

Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby made hundreds of different bridges around the world. Here is one that was in Nottingham until 1974 when it was demolished.



Wilford Toll Bridge crossed the River Trent between the Meadows and Wilford.


It was built for Sir Robert Juckes Clifton, 9th Baronet, for the traffic for Clifton Colliery.

In my video you can see the decorative nature of this bridge with lamp standards along the bridge and underneath had fine cast iron spandrels between the bridge pier supports.

Wilford Toll Bridge, locally referred to as the 'Halfpenny Bridge' opened as a toll bridge for general traffic in 1870 and was in daily use until the early 1970's. After a structural assessment revealed that the bridge was in a poor condition, it was closed to traffic in 1974. The centre span (Handysides section) was demolished and replaced by a narrower footbridge of steel girders with an in-situ reinforced concrete deck slab in 1980. They retained the brick arches at each end of the bridge. I imagine that the then 104 year old Handyside ironwork was simply scrapped.

There is a statue to Sir Robert Juckes Clifton adjacent to the bridge, you can see it in some of the views of the original 1870 bridge, it's still there today in 2026.

Total distance of the central span over the River Trent is 90.29 m (296.24 ft),
The Total distance including the brick arches at each end is 191.19 m (627.27ft).

The toll house located at the north end of the bridge was designed by the architect E. W. Hughes. It is built of red brick, ashlar dressing and steep hipped slate/lead roofs, and as of 2019 is used as a sandwich shop called Bridge Sandwich Bar.

The bridge was owned by the Clifton family until Nottingham City Council took over responsibility for it in 1969.

The bridge was then used as a footpath and cycleway until 2014. 

During 2014 and 2015 the bridge was enlarged as part of the works to construct phase 2 of the Nottingham Express Transit system. This involved widening the central portion from 5.65 metres (18.5 ft) to 12.2 metres (40 ft) and strengthening to allow a two-way tram system along with replacement pedestrian and cycle paths.

Hope you like my video that clearly shows how decorative the Handyside section of the bridge was, so much finer looking than the one they replaced it with. 

My reference: The Buildings of England by Nikolaus Pevsner: Nottinghamshire 1979 Page 273

My video of the 1870 bridge was brought back to life using A.I. :


Tuesday, 19 May 2026

Makers badge on Handyside Bridge, now in Museum stores 1877

This makers badge was located on Handyside Bridge Derby (former GNR Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension route or Derby Friar Gate Line). I would like to thank Derby museum (now museum of making) back in 2011 for letting me see this item as it was in their secure stores.

This Handyside badge is quite large, about 14" across and very heavy made from cast iron. The badge says "A. Handyside & Co Ltd Derby & London".


This would have been fixed to the top of the arch of the bridge, It was made in 1877.

Here is a detailed video I made about this bridge 14 years ago : 

Here is a map location of this bridge :
https://maps.app.goo.gl/aGFzWvGYPiD1k1k28

Please share this post to anyone you think would be interested.

If you know of any items (apart from Post boxes) in the world bearing the Andrew Handyside badge that I have not marked on my world map then please let me know.

My Andrew Handyside world map :

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1OAACWtSS9PyrJqZ5Ebpy1yb527nkRFk7&ll=52.90829433369387%2C-1.4515525777722327&z=10

My Andrew Handyside Facebook group :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/andrewhandyside

My Andrew Handyside Blog :

https://friargatebridge.blogspot.com/

My Andrew Handyside Flickr group :

https://www.flickr.com/groups/1531851@N22/

My Andrew Handyside video playlist :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6EmDnqQPU&list=PLA6EB1C556ABA75AF

Friday, 15 May 2026

The Seaton Carew fountain, Hartlepool, County Durham, UK 1870, Removed 1933

The Seaton Carew fountain, Hartlepool,  County Durham, UK 1870, Removed 1933
This fountain was exactly the same as the one that is in Alum Chine, Westbourne, Bournemouth.

Seaton Carew drinking fountain was installed on The Green in 1870, as a gift from William Charles Ward Jackson, and is marked on the 1897 OS map.

This particular design of drinking fountain is listed as Design Number 24 on Page 42 of the 1879 publication "An Illustrated book of Designs for Fountains and Vases, costing from £1 to £1200 manufactured by Andrew Handyside".


The price for this fountain is listed in April 1880 as between £18 0s 0d and £20 5s 0d depending what finish was applied (no finish, bronze/marble paint etc).

According to the drawing its 6 foot 7 inches from the base to the bottom of the lamp support and included an animal drinking trough in the base


A newspaper article from the Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail in 1919 indicates that the fountain had fallen into disrepair, or possibly been removed; by 1933, another article indicates that the fountain had been removed. While the exact date and reason for its removal cannot be ascertained, the approximate date of its removal can be narrowed down to the early 20th Century

My Reference : Archaeological Excavation Seaton Carew Green Hartlepool and a postcard.


My Andrew Handyside world map :
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1OAACWtSS9PyrJqZ5Ebpy1yb527nkRFk7&ll=52.90829433369387%2C-1.4515525777722327&z=10

My Andrew Handyside Facebook group :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/andrewhandyside

My Andrew Handyside Flickr group :
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1531851@N22/

My Andrew Handyside video playlist :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6EmDnqQPU&list=PLA6EB1C556ABA75AF

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

St John the Evangelist Church Derby - Windows, Iron columns, Tracery and railings by Britannia Foundry 1827

The Britannia Foundry, which Andrew Handyside owned, made the Windows, Iron columns, Tracery and railings for St John the Evangelist Church Derby Derbyshire UK in 1827.

Andrew Handyside was the church warden at St Johns church until his death in 1887

This church features lots of fine cast iron windows and also cast iron columns and tracery which you can see in my photographs.





They had also supplied the fashionable iron railings surrounding the church, these have been lost in the last 199 years, probably during the war efforts.

You can see those original 1827 iron railings in my short A.I. video I made from a 1906 photograph : 

Andrew Handyside took over the Britannia Foundry in 1848 from Weatherhead & Glover so technically these windows were not made by Handyside but were made at the same foundry. The reputation that Weatherhead & Glover had built up for their fine casting was continued by Handyside.

By 1873 Handyside offered 1500 cast window designs, costing between 15s and 20s per cwt. They produced larger windows chiefly for industrial use and were considerable skill to the firm.

To produce, as they did, a frame 11 feet by 6 feet in a single casting is an undertaking that would tax many present-day foundries.

Mr H. Cordery, who worked for Handyside's in 1926, tells of one ingredient which, together with the fine moulding sand, may have contributed to the quality of the castings.

The first job of the young lads had to do every morning was to fetch manure in barrows which they brought from the railway yard on Mansfield Road over St Mary's bridge ready to be milled up with the sand!

This practice of mixing manure with casting sand still takes place today as confirmed in a recent YouTube video I saw by Tom Scott when he visited John Taylors bell foundry in Loughborough :
https://youtu.be/GpaNijzRaJI?si=QlQfVpk6eSzPVdVk&t=281

Cast iron windows made at Derby's Britannia foundry are all over the world but tracking them down is extremely difficult as detailed records for such things made 200 years ago.

Other churches known to feature their cast iron windows are St James church in Shardlow and St Johns church in Ashbourne.

I made a video for this church last year which shows you inside and out in great detail, do please have a watch :


Please share this post to anyone you think would be interested.

If you know of any items (apart from Post boxes) in the world bearing the Andrew Handyside badge that I have not marked on my world map then please let me know.

My Andrew Handyside world map :
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1OAACWtSS9PyrJqZ5Ebpy1yb527nkRFk7&ll=52.90829433369387%2C-1.4515525777722327&z=10

My Andrew Handyside Blog :
https://friargatebridge.blogspot.com/

My Andrew Handyside Flickr group :
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1531851@N22/

My Andrew Handyside video playlist :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6EmDnqQPU&list=PLA6EB1C556ABA75AF


Thanks
Andy

Tuesday, 5 May 2026

Nottingham Railway Station, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK made in 1903.

Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby also made iron/steel work for lots of railway stations around the world, here is one such example in Nottingham.

Nottingham Railway Station, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK made in 1903.


All of the steel/iron work in this station was made in Derby by Andrew Handyside apart from the staircases which were made by The Phoenix foundry, another Derby company who made Battersea bridge in London, Derby and Stockport market Halls.

I have never seen so many Handyside makers badges in a station before, there are 23 roof support columns along platforms 1,3,5 & 6 and each support has two badges on it.

Thats a total of 184 badges !


Nottingham Railway Station was built 1903-1904 by AE Lambert for the Midland Railway Company.

The ironwork over the platforms consists of two large roofs, one over platforms 1 & 3 and a second one over platform 5 and 6. Each of these two roofs are 677ft x 86ft.



The ironwork on the roof of the west entrance to the station (Carrington Street) is 332ft by 54 ft.

Here is a photo from above of this massive roof : 


The former Great Central Main Line used to run directly above the station on a 170-foot-long (52 m) bowstring girder bridge. This bridge became redundant in 1973 and was finally dismantled in the early 1980s. That similar alignment was later used for a new tramway bridge for NET.

Here is a view from a plane in 1949 showing the GCR bridge going over the station :


In 2014 the porte-cochère (main entrance to the station) on Carrington Street was converted from a vehicle forecourt into a large indoor concourse for pedestrians only, it has coffee shops etc.

Here is a photo I took in 2011 before that change : 


Map location of this railway station :

https://maps.app.goo.gl/666A5nBQMwJBMe9W9

Please share this post to anyone you think would be interested.

If you know of any items (apart from Post boxes) in the world bearing the Andrew Handyside badge that I have not marked on my world map then please let me know.

My Andrew Handyside world map :
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1OAACWtSS9PyrJqZ5Ebpy1yb527nkRFk7&ll=52.90829433369387%2C-1.4515525777722327&z=10

My Andrew Handyside Facebook group :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/andrewhandyside

My Andrew Handyside Flickr group :
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1531851@N22/

My Andrew Handyside video playlist :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6EmDnqQPU&list=PLA6EB1C556ABA75AF

Thanks
Andy


Tuesday, 28 April 2026

Deer Park Spring fountain, Congress Park, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA 1876

Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby were famous for their high quality decorative and memorial fountains, here is one such example in New York. This Handyside fountain is located in Congress Park, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA.


I would like to thank to Phil Steffen (Artist for the City of Saratoga Springs) for getting in touch about this fountain during the restoration back in 2018.


The Deer Park Spring, originally known as the Fresh Water Spring, was made into a fountain in 1876 when the Congress and Empire Spring Water Company improved the southern end of Congress Park. At that time, the pond and surrounding area included an enclosed fence where tame deer were kept, hence the name of this part of the park as "the deer park". 

 The date on the fountain is 1873 commemorating the spring but the fountain was installed June 7th 1876, here is a colourised photograph from 1876 :



Looking at photographs of this fountain taken April 2026 it looks like it needs some TLC as its covered in limescale and rust which is a real shame : 


This fountain is design Number 48 in Catalogue C Handyside Fountains and vases Handysides ironwork catalogue published 1873 : 


This exact fountain design is also in :

Alexandra Park, Whalley Range, Manchester, UK.
Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
St Pancras old church gardens, London, UK.

The fountain was restored in 2018. Saratoga Springs, NY –  Department of Public Works Commissioner Anthony, "Skip" Scirocco announced restorations to the Deer Park Spring in Congress Park at a small ceremony on Friday, June 15, 2018. DPW performed in house repairs on the restoration of the fountain, and worked with the Saratoga Springs History Museum to research the history of the spring.


Deer Park Spring was originally called the "Fresh Water Spring", when it was established by the Congress and Empire Spring Water Company in 1876 during improvements to the southern end of Congress Park. At that point in time that area of the park had an enclosed fence where tame deer were kept, lending to the future name of this spring being the Deer Park Spring.

At the time of installation, the June 7 1876 Daily Saratogian explained why the fountain came from Handysides, "no work of superior character, it is said, is done in this country".

The fountain was taken apart piece by piece last fall and moved to the DPW facility for restoration this spring. The fountain was cleaned, missing pieces were fabricated, and internal plumbing was updated. DPW spent time researching the history and the status of similar fountains.

We also restored the pouring spouts to be similar to what could be made out in historical photos. While researching what colours to repaint the fountain, a Saratogian article from May 20, 1912 described how Park Commissioner Allerdice explained that “green and white” were becoming the prominent colors of the park. The paint system included a durable primer, an epoxy coat, followed by a urethane coat.

"I have to admit that the paint job came out incredible. DPW also saw this as an opportunity to clean up the landscaping around the fountain, we added a round concrete base, boxwood bushes, geraniums in the planters and a new informational plaque", Scirocco explained.


Map location for this fountain :
https://maps.app.goo.gl/aswhFVMdr8Nw8jTc6

Please share this post to anyone you think would be interested.

If you know of any items (apart from Post boxes) in the world bearing the Andrew Handyside badge that I have not marked on my world map then please let me know.

My Andrew Handyside world map :
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1OAACWtSS9PyrJqZ5Ebpy1yb527nkRFk7&ll=52.90829433369387%2C-1.4515525777722327&z=10

My Andrew Handyside Facebook group :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/andrewhandyside

My Andrew Handyside Flickr group :
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1531851@N22/

My Andrew Handyside video playlist :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6EmDnqQPU&list=PLA6EB1C556ABA75AF

Thanks
Andy

Friday, 24 April 2026

Round-headed cast-iron windows, Great Northern Classics (formerly Victoria & Railway Ironworks of Messrs Eastwood Swingler and Co), Derby, Derbyshire, UK 1855

Round-headed cast-iron windows, Great Northern Classics (formerly Victoria & Railway Ironworks of Messrs Eastwood Swingler and Co), Derby, Derbyshire, UK 1855

Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby also made Cast iron window frames, here is one such example in Derby in the former Victoria & Railway Ironworks of Messrs Eastwood Swingler and Co, today the buildings are used by Great Northern Classics.


The windows are design 2838 in Handyside's window catalogue B page 582.

There are three buildings remaining of Eastwood & Swinglers Foundry and they all feature distinctive tall round-headed fine single cast-iron windows made by Andrew Handyside in 1855, There are a total of 25 Round-headed cast-iron windows in these buildings.


Mr H. Cordery, who worked for Handyside's in 1926, tells of one ingredient which, together with the fine moulding sand, may have contributed to the quality of the castings.

The first job of the young lads had to do every morning was to fetch manure in barrows which they brought from the railway yard on Mansfield Road over St Mary's bridge ready to be milled up with the sand!

This practice of mixing manure with casting sand still takes place today as confirmed in a recent YouTube video I saw by Tom Scott when he visited John Taylors bell foundry in Loughborough : 

https://youtu.be/GpaNijzRaJI?si=QlQfVpk6eSzPVdVk&t=281

By 1873 Handyside offered 1500 cast window designs, costing between 15s and 20s per cwt. They produced larger windows chiefly for industrial use and were considerable skill to the firm.

To produce, as they did, a frame 11 feet by 6 feet in a single casting is an undertaking that would tax many present-day foundries.

Andrew Handyside took over the Britanna Foundry in 1848 from Weatherhead and Glover who had already established a reputation for good quality cast iron windows.

Cast iron windows made in Derby are all over the world but tracking them down is extremely difficult as detailed records for such things made 180 years ago.

Other buildings known to feature their cast iron windows are St Johns church Derby, St James church in Shardlow and St Johns church in Ashbourne.

The Victoria & Railway Ironworks of Messrs Eastwood Swingler and Co existed from 1855-1925, a lot of the buildings were cleared but these three bays remain today.

In 1924 Eastwood & Swingler Ltd ceased trading and in 1928 the ‘Swingler’ section (GNC’s building) of the Ironworks was converted into a bus garage and later, a trolley bus depot, for Derby Corporation.

Throughout this period Rolls Royce operated in the rest of Victoria Ironworks and during the Second World War used the site as the base for its research into large structural castings in magnesium alloys. This ultimately led to work on compressor castings for early centrifugal jet engines. Victoria Ironworks was home to this development.

1935 aerial view of the buildings when it was used as the bus depot :


The company’s commissions included beams for Sydney Harbour Bridge, the market hall in Singapore, Bennerley Viaduct, railways in Japan, Sweden and St Petersburg and as many as 235 bridges in India. Much of this infrastructure still stands today – and it was cast here, at Victoria Ironworks.

The bus depot closed in 1961, whereupon Rolls-Royce took over the entire site, Great Northern Classics then took over the site in 2023.

My references :
Page 48 of "Handyside's Cast Iron" a study by Richard I.C. Taylor June 1985, Nixon 1969, Page 196 Gloag & Bridgewater and A Brief History of the Rolls-Royce Foundries Site by Tony Ruff Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Please share this post to anyone you think would be interested.

If you know of any items (apart from Post boxes) in the world bearing the Andrew Handyside badge that I have not marked on my world map then please let me know.

My Andrew Handyside world map : 
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1OAACWtSS9PyrJqZ5Ebpy1yb527nkRFk7&ll=52.90829433369387%2C-1.4515525777722327&z=10

My Andrew Handyside Facebook group :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/andrewhandyside

My Andrew Handyside Flickr group :
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1531851@N22/

My Andrew Handyside video playlist :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6EmDnqQPU&list=PLA6EB1C556ABA75AF

Thanks
Andy