Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby made hundreds of bridges across the globe, here is a bridge made in the same year as Friar Gate bridge that I went to see on a recent visit to Bristol.
Peel Street bridge, Saint Pauls/Judes, Bristol, UK.
This bridge was designed by Frederick Ashmead and made by Andrew Handyside of Derby in 1878. It has a span of 49 feet and it is 25 feet wide.
It was reported in the Western Daily Press on 2nd January 1878 that the tender from Messrs Handyside had been accepted.
The bridge was built to connect the new communities in the area, spanning across the River Frome.
The bridge was opened in October 1878 and is still in use by pedestrians and cyclists 148 years later.
It originally connected the former Peel Street to Wellington Road and Monk Street, Its a lattice girder bridge, made from semi-circular upper chords of wrought iron.
Today this is only used as a footbridge, connecting Riverside Park to Peel Street Green Space. Riverside Park was established in 1975.
Peel Street disappeared when the area was redeveloped and the M32 and A4032 were built as you can see in the "then and now" section of my video.
The Frome Valley Walkway runs alongside the River Frome here.
In the "then and now" view I have used two vertical top-down photographs of a location, one taken by the RAF in the 1940's and one from Google Maps Satellite view, I have
lined them up precisely with each other so that you can watch as it fades back and forth to reveal what has changed in the decades that have passed between the two views.
As you can clearly see there has been significant changes with lots of the streets demolished. On the far left is the former St Paul's church, built 1794 but since 2004 the home of Circomedia.
Old map link to this area : https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=19.1&lat=51.46217&lon=-2.57787&layers=117746211&b=ESRIWorld&o=100
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Thanks
Andy
Video markers :
0:00 How the bridge looked in 1878
0:05 How it looks in 2026
0:09 Views of the roadway and north parapet of bridge
0:22 Views of the south parapet of bridge
0:32 view of the substructure of the bridge viewed from the south side
0:49 Views of the north parapet of bridge
0:59 An 1890 map of the bridge and surrounding streets
1:11 The and now view from 1946 to 2026
