Gas Works Road, Reading, Berkshire, UK made by Andrew Handyside in 1884

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 Reading.

Gas Works Road, Reading, Berkshire, UK made by Andrew Handyside in 1884.

This road bridge was built for the Reading Gas Company and goes over the River Kennet, Today this road is for cyclists and pedestrian use only.

This skew lattice road bridge was built for the Reading Gas Company, for the purpose of connecting its works with a new site of about 13 acres. The bridge also carries 24" gas mains across the road.

On the brick section at the end of the bridge is a large cast iron Borough of Reading coat of arms cast by Andrew Handyside : 

The large gasometer you can see in the older photographs (Gasholder No.4) was demolished in 2022.

Here is a photograph taken from a plane in 1922 showing the bridge and the Gasometer : 

2021 view :

Design drawings for the bridge :

My Reference: The Engineer May 29th 1885 Page 423 :

"This bridge has been erected over the river Kennet, at Reading, near its mouth adjoining the Thames, by the Reading Gas Company, for the purpose of connecting its works with a new site of about 13 acres, and for carrying the necessary mains from the present to the new works. 

The bridge is on the skew at an angle of 42 deg., and the span between the piers from centre to centre is 107ft.; the main girders are 119ft 8in. long and 9ft 6in. deep, the top booms being 2ft. 6in. wide and the bottom booms 1ft 9in. wide and 23ft. 9in. apart, centre to centre, giving a clear way over the bridge of 22ft. 

The cross girders are 2ft deep at the centre, placed 5ft. 2in. apart, on the top flanges of which are riveted the wrought iron buckled plates, which have a rise of 3in. in the centre, the longitudinal joists being supported on T-iron bearers. The ends of 

the main girders rest upon Bessemer steel rollers and cast iron bed-plates planned on the surface. 

It will be observed that two 24in. mains, which are of wrought iron with flanged joints, are carried outside the main girders by the stiffening brackets in order to give the regulation height over the river without increasing the level of the roadway of the bridge more than necessary. 

These mains are loosely laid upon the webbing of the stiffeners, and are free to move with the expansion or contraction of the bridge or with the slight vibration of a passing load, and each main is provided with an expansion joint on both sides of the bridge. In practice these mains are thoroughly gas tight—not always attained on bridge work—and are, of course, at all times exposed to view. 

The lattice bars and various other parts are of the various dimensions figured on the detail drawings. The bridge has been erected from the specification and plans of Mr. Edward Baker, the engineer to the Reading Gas Company, by Messrs Andrew Handyside and Co. of Derby"

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Audleys Wood Hotel, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK. Decorative iron roof made by Andrew Handyside in 1880

Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby also made ironwork for many buildings and hotels, a lot of their building ironwork is structural and can’t be seen but here is one example where their ironwork was made to be on view, quite a unique Handyside find this one.

Audleys Wood Hotel, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK.

This hotel is in Basingstoke, Hampshire. It was built in 1880, Originally the Neo Gothic Renaissance mansion of auctioneer Thomas Pain (director of the bloodstock auctioneers Messrs Tattersalls). 

In 1989 it was converted to a 4-star 72 bedroom hotel surrounded by woodlands and seven acres of private grounds.

Great to see they have left all the fine ironwork on show, all made in Derby at the Britannia foundry 146 years ago.

As you can see in the photographs, there is lots of ironwork on show here. Round cast iron support pillars with square capitals, decorative riveted rafters, decorative cast iron spandrels surrounding the doorways etc.

This ironwork was originally painted black, but they have now painted it cream to match the walls, it all looks rather splendid.

A potted history of this building : 

1880 Built.

1887 Owned by William Bradshaw.

1900 Henry Adolphus Simonds purchased the estate.

1944 Owned by Viscount Camrose, the editor and proprietor of The Daily Telegraph.

1951 The house and gardens were sold to the county council, who ran Audleys Wood as a home for the elderly and a workshop for the disabled. 

1989 Converted to Audleys Wood Hotel.

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Lodge Road bridge, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, UK. Made by Andrew Handyside in 1896

Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby also made lots of other bridges around the world such as this road bridge in St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, UK.

This bridge on Lodge Road over the railway lines was built in Derby by Andrew Handyside in 1896.

There were originally 4 tracks running under this bridge, today there are 3 one is Marylebone to Harrow on Hill (The Great Central line)

Handyside also built the road bridge 0.3 miles southeast over the same railway line at Rossmore Road (Marylebone station)

It was repainted in 2011 in blue and white...

It's a single span bridge of 101ft and a width of 53ft. on the South east side of the bridge the railway tracks are overground, on the North west side the bridge the railway is underground.

My reference : The Engineer 1896
"On the west side of St. John's Wood-road Station, a fine iron bridge by Messrs. Andrew Handyside and Co., of Derby and London, is just 

completing. This carries Lodge-road over the new line, and has separate footways on each side outside the main girders. 

It is the last over-bridge so far, being immediately succeeded by three temporary ones carrying the line over the canal. Hardly a house is now left on the great area south of this, and there seems every probability that it will be brought into use as a coal depot some time 

before passenger traffic begins. A good deal of the old brickwork of the demolished houses, we observed, is being broken up on the spot as if for road metal. It would probably make excellent ballast, as it would drain well and not turn readily either to mud or to dust."

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A foot powered treadle grinder made by Andrew Handyside c1878

Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby made lots of items you probably would never have even thought about such as farming machinery.

Here is one such example: a foot powered treadle grinder in Australia.

"Mr. Phillips" is the inventor of the grinder, it dates from before 1878. I have seen a winding wheel with Phillips' on it too.

Here are some other item that Handyside made that you may not have know about : Smith's Hearths, Forges, Winding Engines, Agricultural equipment, Lathes, Motorcar cylinders, Steam vessels, Carriage wheels, Locomotive tenders, Cotton pressing machines, Water Cranes and Coal Trucks to name but a few.

Photos courtesy of Cliff Overton, thanks to Joan Picone.

If you know of any other farming machinery out there by Handyside please get in touch.

My reference : The Engineer issued 1878.

PHILLIPS’ TREADLE GRINDER.
MESSRS. HANDYSIDE and Co., of Derby, exhibit at the Islington Show, among other things, the neat little grinding machine, the invention of Mr. Phillips, which we illustrate, for sharpening reaper knives and such like. The grinder can sit at his work, and use both feet on the treadle, and is consequently able to work much quicker and better than is the case when he has to stand balancing on one leg and work the treadle with the other. This is a decided improvement. The cost of the machine is very small.

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Petersham Railway Station Footbridge, New South Wales, Australia built by Andrew Handyside 1892

Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby made hundreds of different bridges around the world here is one such example located in Australia.

Petersham Railway Station Footbridge, New South Wales, Australia.

Photograph from 1900 (colourised) of the footbridge

Petersham railway station opened in 1857 as a halt but was expanded in 1892 to include four railway lines, at this point Andrew Handyside supplied the 

footbridge to connect the island platform to the outer platforms. The footbridge was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register in 1999.

It was recently restored in 2023/2024

Looking at the decorative iron work on the station (facing Terminus Street) I'm wondering if thats Handyside too as it looks like it could be, if anyone lives here reading this could you have a look?

Here is the ironwork on the station : 

I would like to thank Chris Flynn for telling me about this one in 2019.

Handyside made lots of railway footbridges around the world, they have a distinctive design. If you find one have a good look around for the Handyside makers badges, they are normally present on cross members or support columns.

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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. :

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

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