Rigmaden Bridge, Mansergh Civil Parish, Cumbia, North West England built in 1872 by Andrew Handyside.

Andrew Handyside Ltd of Derby who made Friargate bridge made hundreds of bridges around the world of all sizes and styles, this is one such bridge which was made 5 years before Friargate bridge.

Rigmaden Bridge, Cumbria, UK built 1872

This is a single lane road bridge over the river Lune, west of Rigmaden in Cumbria and is Grade II listed. This bridge was built for the Rigmaden estate around 1872.

A total of 52 1/2 Tons of ironwork was shipped from Derby's Britannia foundry to the banks of the river Lune for assembly of this bridge.

It carried people and vehicles for almost 150 years but was closed in December 2021 after a structural assessment found it to be unsafe for pedestrians and vehicles.

In August 2025 the Department of transport committed £370,000 to the repair and strengthening of the Rigmaden bridge but apparently this is a tenth of what is needed to carry out the work.

I think its still not been repaired yet as of March 2026.

My sources :
Page 159 Example No 27 Works in Iron - Bridge and Roof Structures by Ewing Matheson of the firm Andrew Handyside and Co., Engineers, Derby and London. Published by E & F.N. Spon 1873.

This bridge has a 116' single span which is 12' 6" wide. The vertical struts in the main girders are of wrought iron.

The abutments are of stone, and the girders rest on cast iron bed-plates, planned to allow the girders to move, in case of expansion and contraction.

The bottom flange is composed of tie bars 9" by 13/16th". The top flange of wrought iron girder 1' 7" deep and 12" wide.

The roadway is composed of ordinary metalling on arched wrought-iron plates.

The weight of the two main girders is 16 tons, The cross girders 5 1/2 ton, The platform 20 tons and other ironwork is 11 tons.

I only found this bridge recently after seeing it in my 1873 book, great to see its still standing over 150 years later even if its not being used for its intended purpose at the moment.

Rigmaden is a hamlet in Mansergh Civil Parish, Cumbia in North West England.

Google Streetview of the bridge shows it as open in April 2009 and closed in the June 202 and April 2024 views.

I hope to see this bridge open again sometime in the future as Im sure the locals would too as they have to do a 40 minute detour.

Hope you found this post of interest. 

Hooghly (Howrah) Pontoon Bridge, Hooghly, Calcutta Made by Andrew Handyside in 1874. Demolished 1945

Did you know that Andrew Handyside who built Derby's Friargate bridge, built hundreds of other bridges around the world.

By 1892 over 270 bridges made at their Britannia Foundry were shipped to India. 

Hooghly (Howrah) Pontoon Bridge is one example, Work started on construction of this bridge in 1873, The bridge opened to traffic on October 17th October 1874.

This bridge was 1528 feet long and 62 foot wide, consisting of a 48-foot roadway and two 7 foot footpaths.  All the ironwork was fabricated by Andrew Handyside in Derby, a total of 2525 tons was shipped from Derby to India, assembled on site.

1500 tons of Johore teak wood was incorporated into the super-structure.

A colourised photograph from the 1890s of Hooghly (Howrah) Pontoon Bridge : 

Different parts were constructed in England and shipped to Calcutta, where they were assembled.

The assembling period was fraught with problems. The bridge was considerably damaged by the great cyclone on 20 March 1874. A steamer named Egeria broke from her moorings and collided head-on with the bridge, sinking three pontoons and damaging nearly 200 feet of the bridge.

From August 19th 1879 this bridge was illuminated by electric lampposts, powered by a dynamo at the Mullick Ghat pumping station.

The bridge was a floating pontoon bridge, carried by 28 narrow pontoons braced in couples. Each of the pontoons was moored to a 3 ton anchor with 450 foot of chain cable.

It had a 200-foot opening for ships to navigate under the bridge.

A colourised photograph from the 1910 of Hooghly (Howrah) Pontoon Bridge : 

This bridge lasted 70 years and was demolished in 1945 and a new bridge built which was a cantilever style, this bridge is known as the Rabindra Setu bridge.

Hope you found this of interest.

Stoke-on-Trent railway station - Roof and support columns made in 1893 by Andrew Handyside

Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station, originally opened in 1848 by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and designed in a distinctive Neo-Jacobean style, it underwent a major improvement around 1893 with the addition of a significant glazed roof and many cast iron supports these were all made in Derby by Andrew Handyside. Their makers badges can be found throughout this station as you can see in the photographs. 

I would like to thank Oliver and Lyn Sharpe for the photographs.

At the base of the large cast iron supports for the entrance roof over the tracks you will find this Handyside makers mark :

This Handyside makers plaque dated 1893 is located on the support columns outside of Bod Stoke which is located on Platform 1, Stoke-On-Trent Railway Station : 

This Handyside makers plaque dated 1893 is located on the support columns outside of Bod Stoke which is located on Platform 1, Stoke-On-Trent Railway Station : 

At the base of the large cast iron supports for the entrance roof over the tracks : 

The classic glazed roof, built in 1893, that spans the platforms.

Large cast iron support for the entrance roof over the tracks with Handyside makers mark at the base :

Large cast iron support for the entrance roof over the tracks with Handyside makers mark at the base :

Hope you found this of interest.
Andy

Cake Mill "Cattle Cake Breaker" - Made by Andrew Handyside Ltd of Derby.

Andrew Handyside of Derby didn't just make bridges, fountains, post boxes and railway station roofs, they also made some rather unusual farm machinery as you can see here. This is the first time Ive actually seen a real one rather than in their brochures.

This item is a Cake Mill or "Cattle Cake Breaker" and was used on farms to break up Oilcake which comes in hard large slabs and needs to be broken up for cattle feed.

I would like to thank Ken Heathcote for getting in touch about this item and for sending me photographs after he had restored it. 

Here are four photographs showing the cake mill in its restored state.
Looking into this it would appear that Bentall and Co of Heybridge also made Cake Mills around this time. In 1876 there were 33 Oil and Cake Merchants in Hull, 1954 directory listed five Seed Crushers & Cattle Cake Manufacturers.

Feel free to link to my blog post about this item.

Thanks

Andy Savage

Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Made by Andrew Handyside & Co Ltd in 1870

Trent Bridge is a Grade II listed road bridge over the River Trent in West Bridgford, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK.

It carries London Road (A60) over the river Trent, the bridge was started September 14th 1868 and completed 1871. It was built by Andrew Handyside & Co of Derby, famous for their bridges and fountains in their hayday. All the stonework of the bridge was by Benton and Woodiwiss of Derby who built Bennerley Viaduct. The bridge has three spans each of 100 feet with the stone arches of the approaches on either side, a total length of 700 feet. The road deck of the bridge stands 27 foot above the summer level of the river Trent.

Watch my video here :

Or use this link to watch it : Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Made by Andrew Handyside & Co Ltd in 1870.

Here is a 360 photograph I took inside the pedestrian tunnel and you can clearly see the different brickwork of the extended half :

In 1926 the Bridge was widened from 40ft to 80ft. Design by Mott, Hay and Anderson and the city engineer T. Wallis Gordon contractors for the project were Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Co. You can clearly where it was widened by looking underneath the spans such as at 3.24 On the left is the original 1869 construction, on the right is the newer part built 57 years later.

Here is a photograph of the underside of one of the spans, the half nearest the camera is the original 1869 bridge and the other half is the 1926 construction.

The total ironwork in this bridge is 868 tons! The nearby Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Trent Bridge stadium was named after this bridge. At 2.47 I have shown a illustration of the bridge from my 1873 catalogue by A.Handyside and I have faded it into my 2018 photo from the same vantage point so you can see how its changed. Notice the round floodlights of Trent Bridge Cricket club appear. The bridge has six lamp standards, each in the centre of the three spans on both sides. Aside from the bridge there are 15 lamp standards on brick pillars inlayed with decorative tiles, these are located on the approach to the bridge in a wedge shaped bit of land between Arkright Street and London Road. In my 1873 guide it says "The lamp standards for lighting the approaches are dwarf columns fixed upon stone pillars. All the lamps are globes in one piece of glass, with copper finials and mountings, and supplied with gas in the usual manner."

Here is a photograph I took of one of them, I would say those bases are not the original ones ! Maybe these lamps used to be closer to the approach of the bridge but they were all moved back here at some point, any one know ?

It has four carved stone refuges above the piers either side of the centre span, these are recesses along the parapet where pedestrians can come out of the way of traffic, This is normally a feature of 16th Century bridges. At 0.30 you can see the barrel vault structure inside the pedestrian tunnel on the west bank. This video footage is from when I visited the bridge in April and May 2018 but only just got around to creating this video. Points of interest in my video : 00:00​ South side view of the three arches at water level. 00:12​ Close view of one of the decorative spandrels. 00:17​ View underneath showing the different construction method where the bridge was widened in 1926. 00:25​ North side view of one of the arches. 00:30​ Walking through the pedestrian tunnel, stonework by Benton and Woodiwiss of Derby. 00:40​ The East abutment and reveal of arch. 00:51​ View of southern side arch from the east bank. 01:01​ View of the southern side arches from the west bank. 01:04​ View of two Piers supporting the refuges. 01:19​ Walk along the decorative parapet. 01:36​ Close look at one of six decorative lamp standards. 01:56​ View of the northern side arches from the west bank. 02:09​ View of the southern side arches from the east bank. 02:29​ View of southern side parapet, stonework and first arch from the west bank. 02:47​ An 1870 Illustration from the 1873 catalogue by A.Handyside. 02:51​ The same view but 148 years later. 02:56​ View of the Northern side arches from the west bank. 03:01​ Close view of one of the ironwork on one of the spandrels. 03:06​ Close view of a decorative parapet. 03:10​ Close view of one of the decorative spandrels. 03:15​ Close view of a decorative parapet. 03:20​ Sign showing A. Handyside & Co as contractors for the Ironwork. 03:24​ View showing where the bridge was widened in 1926. 03:29​ Walk towards the west arch on the Southern side. 03:59​ Ducklings with bridge in background. Like, Share and Subscribe if you like my videos. 04:16​ End. My Reference : Page 153 Example No 25 Works in Iron - Bridge and Roof Structures by Ewing Matheson of the firm Andrew Handyside and Co., Engineers, Derby and London. Published by E & F.N. Spon 1873. This bridge is also engraved in Gold on the front of this book and illustrated on the Frontispiece. To see many more bridges that were built by Andrew Handyside see my dedicated blog to their work: http://friargatebridge.blogspot.com/​ ► Please like, Share, subscribe and turn on notifications. Feel free to share the link to Facebook, Twitter to anyone you think would like to see it. Music Credits : Silver Lining by Lights & Motion https://youtu.be/Ozwo5Qx-zEo​ Thanks Andy

Belper water Treatment works foot Bridge, made by Andrew Handyside in 1905

This footbridge is one of many bridges around the world made by Andrew Handyside & Co Ltd of Derby and London Who made Friargate bridge in Derby. This is an access bridge which leads across the river Derwent to Belper Sewage treatment plant, You can see this treatment plant at 01:07​ in my video.

The bridge is about 100 Metres long total.

In my video I have showed how its constructed using a combination of Drone  footage and my iPhone in a Gimbal. 

Or use this link to view my video : https://youtu.be/f7qfIIWo2zQ

Thanks

Andy

Holliday Street Aqueduct, Birmingham made by Andrew Handyside & Co Derby in 1884

As well as Derby's famous Friar Gate Bridge, Andrew Handyside also made many other bridges around the UK and the world. This blogpost is about Holliday Street Aqueduct, Birmingham, UK made by Andrew Handyside & Co Derby in 1884.

This Aqueduct carries the Worcester and Birmingham Canal over Holliday Street, it was made in Derby by Andrew Handyside & Co of Derby. Its quite a wide Aqueduct at 54.30 m (178.14 ft).

There are 24 cast iron columns (12 on each side), 4 of which are ornately decorated. The decorative columns are located on the South West and North East road entrances.
Thee are 6 old style lamp posts providing light under the Aqueduct, at night there are spot lights which illuminate alternate arches from each side.

The Aqueduct is formed from a Cast iron frame trough which is carried on segmental brick vaults supported between guiders which are then supported by cross guiders on cast iron columns along the pavement edges.

Here is a video tour showing you all the details of this aqueduct



Or use this link to view the video : Video tour of Holliday Street Aqueduct, Birmingham made by Andrew Handyside & Co Derby in 1884


I captured a 360 degree photograph up high next to the decorative iron work, see here : https://goo.gl/maps/1sMCNFeC2p2zfpGB9

Here is a Google Streetview of the bridge as seen from the road bridge:
Streetview of Barton Swing Aqueduct.

Can you help find more Handyside stuff ?
If anyone out there knows of any other bridges around the world bearing the Handyside badge that I have not mentioned yet then please get in touch with details, location, photographs etc.

Thanks
Andy