Information - Victoria's so-called 'Cattle Bridge'

[mda63]

Ooh, didn't realise the BTP were gone...

One day I'd love another stab at this.

 

[mda63]

Okay, with Ojay's help I think we've pretty much uncovered this.

I was wrong in that the bridge in the background of the photograph is not the currently extant bridge - those who've seen Optimus Prime threads will no doubt have seen the bricked up arches at the same level, just a bit further down: it seems that that is the location of the 'second' bridge. So, we actually have a photo of the bridge that is no longer there.

What this does reveal is that the 'cattle bridge' dates back no further than, at a rough guess, the 1860s, maybe a little after: it is a replacement of the original bridge seen in my photo to be crossing the Irk just above water level. Other than Ojay's photo of Walkers Croft showing the location of the bridge with respect to Todd Street, what led me to this conclusion was this extract from Tom Wray's book on Victoria:

'The squalid approach to the station from Todd Street by way of Mill Brow remained a bone of contention for many years. A letter of the 2 November 1853 describes the situation succinctly, Mill Brow ".... is exceedingly inconvenient and annoying especially in wet weather .... should you be going to the station, you descend the brow as gently as possible, arrive at the wooden bridge, and are preparing to ascend the incline plane before you, when, ten to one, down rushes a multitude, which an arrival train has just disgorged, and which, like a flood, carries all before it .... I do with all due respect (suggest) a viaduct might be built from the station to Todd Street, both being nearly on the same level".'

Check that out! The suggestion of a new bridge attaining to the level of Todd Street rather than having to put the poor denizens of Manchester through trudging down the slippery cobblestones of Mill Brow.

So there we have it. The 'cattle bridge' was a replacement footbridge, built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway to replace the earlier one, which may well have been very old indeed, and led, probably, up to Todd Street. At a guess, the 'second' bridge we only have the bricked up archways of probably just led to the graveyard from Corporation Street.

I will be forever in the favour of the person who can find a photograph of the 'cattle bridge' before it was covered over, since throughout this we have lost that!

 

[dweeb]

In light of all this I wonder what the brick chutes were for that are next to said "cattle bridge".

Interesting stuff there. I've spent a fair bit of time around the area this summer and I have found it to be one of those epic places that just oozes history. The shear size of that culvert is something to behold in its own right.

I wonder why the second bridge got demolished but that crazy old thing managed to survive? !

 

[m9]

Top thread!

 

[FreshFingers]

Top thread!

Yup, same call from me, can't beat a bit of Cartography. (Ojay/Nick) Give me a heads-up if a research trip materialises

 

[Nickindroy]

Yup, same call from me, can't beat a bit of Cartography. (Ojay/Nick) Give me a heads-up if a research trip materialises

Nearly four years since we got a puncture.

 

[mda63]

In light of all this I wonder what the brick chutes were for that are next to said "cattle bridge".

Interesting stuff there. I've spent a fair bit of time around the area this summer and I have found it to be one of those epic places that just oozes history. The shear size of that culvert is something to behold in its own right.

I wonder why the second bridge got demolished but that crazy old thing managed to survive? !

When you say the brick chutes, are those the things that were speculated to be for dropping the corpses of cattle? It's an interesting question: the photo doesn't show much, and it's pretty certain that the culvert itself was never actually used after it was constructed for anything other than, well, being a culvert!

Manchester's an awesome place for history. I'm currently suffering pretty badly with my chronic illness so last night after a sleepless night, I took a wander out on a Rail Ranger. The old Hunts Bank building is still fascinating to behold. Shame it's treated in such a workaday fashion really, it's practically a museum piece. Would be good to see it get some sort of recognition.

As for why the second bridge got demolished, I'd speculate it's because when the station extension necessitated the culvert, that bridge would've just led into a side wall, if indeed it did originally lead to the graveyard, whereas the extant bridge led to what remained of Walkers Croft (or is the bricked up arch of the second bridge also in the Walkers Croft tunnel?)

I gather it survived simply as a way for staff to reach the Walkers Croft tunnels - hell, maybe it's a way for L&Y directors coming down from the old M&L Walkers Croft offices (on the corner of Walkers Croft where Chetham's is now) to get into the station through a secret entrance!

Top thread!

Yup, same call from me, can't beat a bit of Cartography. (Ojay/Nick) Give me a heads-up if a research trip materialises

Cheers lads!!

Nearly four years since we got a puncture.

That video is hyper-cool.

 

[Nickindroy]

That video is hyper-cool.

Cheers! Hyper shaky now I look at it, with a lot of camera outline in the shadows. Stll, a document of sorts of a belting night with Ojay and Fresh Fingers.

 

[Ojay]

Yeah had some fun kayaking down Manchester's rivers, have to get back on it again soon

 

[paulpowers]

In light of all this I wonder what the brick chutes were for that are next to said "cattle bridge".

I've seen them referred to as "morgue chutes"
The cattle were killed then dropped down and loaded onto barges for transport

 

[mda63]

I've seen them referred to as "morgue chutes"
The cattle were killed then dropped down and loaded onto barges for transport

In light of what's been collectively discovered in this thread, though, that can't be true - none of the businesses that banked onto the river were anything to do with cattle, and the bridge was just a footbridge to the station.

 

[mda63]

Out of interest, has anyone ever been on top of the brick Hunts Bank bridges under there?

 

[Ojay]

Out of interest, has anyone ever been on top of the brick Hunts Bank bridges under there?

Yeah, walled off and very little of interest sadly

 

[anubis]

I did some work for Railtrack during the bombing of the area back in 1996 and had the master keys for Victoria Station at that time.
I 'found' my way into the basement beneath Vic Stn a few times out of curiosity and eventually got to the cattle bridge.
It was then I noticed the roar coming from behind a secured hatch at leg level!
It has a padlocked hatch on it which can be clearly seen in the images on here taken from the Irk below.
Well it HAD to be opened didn't it and I was astounded by the noise from the River!
It was very fast that night.
Cant' recall exactly but am fairly sure that the far end of the cattle bridge led to the metal gating that is at the end of Walker's Croft here.
It was a fascinating find!

 

[Ojay]

Careful what you post and discuss in public fellas, I've removed the last few posts