place

Galton Bridge

Birmingham Canal NavigationsBridges by Thomas TelfordBridges completed in 1829Bridges in the West Midlands (county)Buildings and structures in Sandwell
Cast-iron arch bridges in EnglandGrade I listed bridgesGrade I listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)SmethwickUse British English from January 2017
Galton Bridge, Smethwick 02
Galton Bridge, Smethwick 02

The Galton Bridge is a cast-iron bridge in Smethwick, near Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Opened in 1829 as a road bridge, the structure has been pedestrianised since the 1970s. It was built by Thomas Telford to carry a road across the new main line of the Birmingham Canal, which was built in a deep cutting. The bridge is 70 feet (21 metres) above the canal, making it reputedly the highest single-span arch bridge in the world when it was built, 26 feet (7.9 metres) wide, and 150 feet (46 metres) long. The iron components were fabricated at the nearby Horseley Ironworks and assembled atop the masonry abutments. The design includes decorative lamp-posts and X-shaped bracing in the spandrels. In the 1840s, a railway bridge was built from one of the abutments, with a parapet in keeping with the original. The Galton Bridge carried traffic for over 140 years until it was bypassed by a new road, named Telford Way, in the 1970s, and now carries only pedestrians and cyclists. The bridge is one of six built by Telford that share common design features and the only one still standing without modification. It underwent minor repair work in the 1980s, after which it was repainted from its original black into a colour scheme intended to enhance its features. It is maintained by the Canal and River Trust and lends its name to the nearby Smethwick Galton Bridge railway station. It is a grade I listed building.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Galton Bridge (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Galton Bridge
Nine Leasowes, Sandwell

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Galton BridgeContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.5019 ° E -1.9794 °
placeShow on map

Address

Galton Valley Black Country Geosite

Nine Leasowes
B66 1JA Sandwell
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Galton Bridge, Smethwick 02
Galton Bridge, Smethwick 02
Share experience

Nearby Places

2013 Smethwick fire
2013 Smethwick fire

At around 11pm on the night of 30 June 2013, a sky lantern landed on a Jayplas plastics and paper recycling plant on Dartmouth Road, near to the West Bromwich Albion football ground, at Smethwick, West Midlands, England, igniting the material stored there.The resulting fire was the largest ever dealt with by the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS), who deployed over 200 firefighters and nearly 40 appliances, including seven appliances borrowed from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and three from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service. Three firefighters were taken to hospital.The 6,000 feet (1,800 m) column of smoke cloud could be seen as far away as Coventry. 10 miles away in Yardley, the skies were filled with grey ash in the morning rush hour. WMFS received over 400 emergency phone calls.The Canal and River Trust and the Environment Agency monitored nearby waterways for toxic residues in the run-off water. Birmingham Airport monitored the smoke in case it affected arriving or departing flights. Delays were caused on the adjacent M5 Motorway and the region's road network. WMFS broadcast live from the site over the Internet, via Bambuser.Initial estimates put the cost of the damage caused at £6 million.On the afternoon of the 1 July, the WMFS called for "an urgent review of the legislation regarding the use of airborne ‘fire’ lanterns", calling on the public and event organisers to stop using them and questioning whether event licences should be issued for events where they were to be used.

West Midlands conurbation
West Midlands conurbation

The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation in the West Midlands region of England. The area consists of two cities and numerous towns: to the east, the city of Birmingham, along with adjacent towns of Solihull and Sutton Coldfield; and to the west, the city of Wolverhampton and the area called the Black Country, containing the towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Willenhall, Bilston, Darlaston, Tipton, Smethwick, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis, Stourbridge and Halesowen. It is broken down into multiple Travel to Work Areas: Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley & Sandwell, Walsall & Cannock, Hagley is within the Kidderminster area and the extreme south-east corner is within the Warwick & Stratford upon Avon area. The conurbation is mainly in the West Midlands county, including parts of the surrounding counties of Staffordshire (e.g. Little Aston, Perton and Essington) and Worcestershire (such as Hagley and Hollywood), with Coventry a separate area in the county. According to the 2011 Census the area had a population of 2,440,986, making it the third most populated in the United Kingdom behind Greater London and Greater Manchester. With the West Midlands also being a region and county, the conurbation is sometimes known as Birmingham-Wolverhampton. though it is the term Birmingham & The Black Country that has gained the widest traction as an alternative to the conurbation's official name: an example of this is the tagline used by BBC Radio WM - "The sound of Birmingham & The Black Country".