Footbridge at King's Cross Railway Station, London was made by Andrew Handyside in 1892.

The Derby firm Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby also made many hundreds of other bridges of many different sizes around the world such as this world famous footbridge which up until December 2008 was located in King's Cross Railway Station, London, UK.

As well as King's Cross footbridge, this bridge has many other names such as The Harry Potter Bridge, Handyside bridge.

Update for June 2013 : This bridge is now open at Ropely, Hampshire. See my video here.

King's Cross Footbridge is a Grade I listed structure built in Derby in 1892 by Andrew Handyside and installed at Kings Cross in 1893.

In 2008, as part of a major redevelopment of Kings Cross, the footbridge had to be dismantled and removed. English Heritage and the London Borough of Camden, as Planning Authority, stipulated that Network Rail should find a suitable alternative use for the footbridge. This alternative use has now been found at Mid-Hants Railway, Watercress Line, Alresford, Hampshire.

www.watercressline.co.uk

The Handyside footbridge used to run across the main station train shed, between platform 1 on the E side and platform 8 on the W side. This structure, approximately 66m long, and is made of composite lattice girders with diagonal straps and it is supported by cast iron columns with octagonal bases on all platforms except on platforms 7-6. Although it only linked platforms 1 and 8, the presence of gates within the south parapet in line with the intermediate platforms suggest staircases were once present to allow access to these.

A clock was situated directly over platform 8, with two large clock faces, to N and S, fixed above the faces of the bridge, driven via a rod by a clock mechanism housed inside the W range of buildings nearby. The West side of the footbridge was constructed in 1892 and has makers plates "A. Handyside & Co. of Derby and London" The East half of the bridge looks like an addition, or else a replacement. Perhaps the western half, if built first,was to connect only departure platforms, which the clock would also have served, when trains arrived at and departed from different platforms in the two halves of the station.

A new hope for the Handyside footbridge.

Currently (Nov 2011) the bridge is being shot blasted and will be installed at a heritage railway site in Mid-Hants. The plans for the bridge are based on 1/2 the bridge crossing the Mid Hants Railway’s main line, yard shunt road and two tracks into a new workshop i.e. 4 in total, with the second half creating a walkway from the end of the first bit to the entrance to viewing galleries in the workshop where we will place most of the interpretation materials. It could well be 6 months before this is complete.

I would like to thank David Snow and Elissa May at Mid Hants Railway watercressline for their help and information.

Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone :

On this footbridge is where Hagrid was filmed giving Harry his first Hogwarts Express ticket in the well known 2001 film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

For many years the trellis lattice work was covered along the inside of the bridge by fiberglass panels, these were removed for the film. Fans of Harry Potter used to visit this bridge so they could stand where Harry was when he was given his special ticket. See my images lower down of this bridge as seen in the Harry Potter film.

Photographs

Long Panoramic photograph of the entire King's Cross footbridge when it was still in location.







"A. Handyside" makers plaque on the stairs in Kings Cross Station.



A Handyside badge on one of the footbridge supports.


Video
A time-lapse video showing the removal of this footbridge in 2008



King's Cross bridge removal time-lapse from NCE Magazine on Vimeo.

Handyside bridge as seen in the Harry Potter film:







Photographs of the bridge in its new location:
Awaiting restoration before installation at the Watercress line.


Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this bridge on the world map.

My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

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

Footbridge in Belper River Gardens built by Andrew Handyside in 1907.

The Derby firm Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge in Derby also made many hundreds of other bridges of many different sizes around the world such as this footbridge located in the River Gardens at Belper, Derbyshire, UK.
Next time you visit Belper River Gardens have a look at this bridge, its located near the car park area.

This footbridge was supplied by Andrew Handyside and Company Ltd in 1907 at a cost of £339. It was installed when a refreshments centre pavilion was built on the triangle of land at the southern end of the river gardens. You can clearly see this triangle of land using my map link below.

As you can see by my photographs (May 2011) this bridge is in a very poor state at the moment and in need of some serious restoration work. Belper River Gardens has recently been revamped and is looking nice so shame this bridge has been left. I hope its going to get restored.

Updates :
In 2012 I applied to English Heritage to get this bridge listed but they decided its not worth saving.
8th March 2014 - I have just been to see this bridge today and its still standing, surrounded by metal fencing.Its only a matter of time before its rusted away and lost forever.

Even though this is "just a footbridge" you can see that Handyside has embellished the side panels with some decorative ironwork. See my 4th photograph.


Photographs of the bridge at Belper River Gardens:

Wide view showing the location of the bridge below East Mill


Photograph showing four of the bridge sections


The South end of the bridge.


A side view showing some of the decorative ironwork


A bridge in need of some TLC.



This is a photograph of how the footbridge looked in 1908, As you can see its was an attractive looking footbridge. A pitty its got into the state its in today in 2011.

I would like to thank Adrian Farmer for this old photograph.



Map Location:
View my Andrew Handyside World Map to see the exact location of this bridge on the world map.
My world map is the result of hundreds of hours of research into the company, plotting out each item as I find it.

Google Streetview has captured this bridge HERE.

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

Whatstandwell Railway Station Footbridge made by Andrew Handyside in 1894.

Andrew Handyside who made Friar Gate bridge also made many hundreds of bridges of many different sizes around the world and also locally such as this one at Whatstandwell Railway Station in Derbyshire.
If you use the footbridge at Whatstandwell railway station then you may not realise that this footbridge was made by Andrew Handyside 117 years ago!
In 2009 this bridge was restored and is looking great now as you can see in my photographs.

My Photograph of the restored Whatstandwell Station Footbridge made by Andrew Handyside.



Next time you use this footbridge take some time to look around at the construction of this bridge.
The Handyside logos can be found on lots of the ironwork, such as at the bottom of all support columns and cross members of the first stairs platform as per my photograph here.

My Photograph of a "A. Handyside & Co Ltd" badge on Whatstandwell Station Footbridge.


360 degree photo : 
See my Google Streetview photo of Whatstandwell Railway Station Footbridge here : 
https://maps.app.goo.gl/jwxWsAmFZDDgpAdg7

I have also made a video of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMdNoDeK-LU

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

Thanks
Andy