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Blackfriars Bridge is a Grade II listedStructure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection. stone arch bridge in Greater Manchester. Completed in 1820, it crosses the River Irwell, connecting Salford to Manchester.[1] The present-day bridge replaced an earlier, wooden footbridge dating from 1761, erected by a company of comedians to allow people from Manchester to easily cross the Irwell, to visit the Riding School on Water Street in Salford, where they performed.[2]
Part of the bridge lies within the Parsonage Gardens Conservation Area.[3]
History
The Company of Proprietors of the Blackfriars Bridge were empowered to raise funds for the bridge’s construction, and allowed to charge tolls to recoup their investment, maintain the bridge and pay off any further debts. The proprietors were also allowed to earn interest on surplus funds, but tolls were to cease once the bridge and the mortgages taken out to fund it, were paid off. As per the Act, they raised £17,700 in shares of £50 each, and obtained mortgages for an additional £12,000; after this proved to be insufficient, they borrowed a further £3,225.[4]
A competition held to produce designs for the new bridge was won by Thomas Wright of Salford.[5] The old wooden structure was taken down in 1817,[6] and construction on the new bridge began on 4 January 1819.[7] The keystone was laid by J. E. Scholes, boroughreeve of Salford, on 17 June 1820, and the bridge was opened on 1 August.[8]
The bridge’s tollgate was removed on 10 March 1848.[9] At a meeting of the committee for the removal of the bridge tolls, the bridge’s creditors agreed to give up any interest in the structure; the remaining surplus of funds was used to purchase a “token of respect” for the committee’s chairman, Thomas Chadwick.[10]
Design
Blackfriars Bridge is built of sandstone ashlarMasonry of squared and finely cut or worked stone, commonly used for the facing of a building. in the Classical style. It has three semcircular arches, the central one of which has paired Ionic pilastersDecorative architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column, to articulate an extent of wall. on each side. The voussoirsWedge-shaped stone or brick that in combination with others forms an arch. on each arch use vermiculated rustication. The east end of the bridge, on the Manchester side, is partially embedded in the river bank.[1]
The bridge’s original open balustrade was replaced with cast iron in the 1870s, to hide the badly polluted river below from view. In 1991 that was replaced with stone-clad reinforced concrete, partially restoring the bridge to its original appearance.[3]