6 Bridges
6 BridgesBackground
Bridges are an important part of creating a sense of place. The design of the various bridges across the project has been considered to mitigate the impact of the introduction of large urban features into a predominantly rural landscape.
The bridges are designed to have a slender form and open spans. For instance, the Caldew Crossing is a slender design with open spans to reduce the visual impact and maintain views up and down the River Caldew along the Cumbrian Way. Other bridges shall be designed to have curved wing walls, clad in Lazonby Sandstone, to provide a design that is more sympathetic to the rural landscape.
Locally sourced, sandstone masonry cladding has been proposed for the substructures of the bridges to ensure that the designs respond to the local vernacular of the area and create a sense of local distinctiveness and identity. The use of sandstone and weathering steel also help to ensure that the bridges are less visually prominent in the landscape, as the muted colour palette will reduce the dominance of these features.
Good design and use of quality materials for these new structures also help to establish a sense of local pride in these areas and celebrate some of the key characteristics of the landscape.
Design examples
Design examplesPlaques displaying the names of the bridges will be fixed centrally to the bridge parapets (footbridges and road bridges).
Refer to the document on page 33 which showcases a few examples of how the bridges will look once complete.
Caldew Crossing
Named by local students and reflects the river that it crosses over and that communities on either side to cross over and connect with one another.
Sarah Losh Bridge
Named after Sarah Losh who was an English architect and designer. Her biographer describes her as an antiquarian, architect and visionary. She was a landowner of Wreay, where her prime work, St Mary's Church, can be found.
Harry Redfern Bridge
Named after Harry Redfern a well-known British architect responsible for designing, in an imaginative and varied manner, fourteen pubs in and around Carlisle. His work introduced comfortable seating, women’s bars, food, leisure facilities, games like darts and pool. Modern pub design is built on the work of Harry Redfern.
Cowans Sheldon Railway Bridge
Named after the Carlisle firm of Cowans, Sheldon & Co. The company had a world-leading reputation in the construction of rail and dock cranes which were exported across the world. In 1933 the largest floating crane in the world was manufactured by Cowans Sheldon, then the world’s leading crane makers.
Peastree Farm Bridge
Named after the nearby farm. Farming remains a key part of the area and the Peastree Farm Bridge provides access for agricultural activity and a public footpath. The structure provides safe access for around 300 cows every day.
St Cuthberts Bridge
Named after St Cuthbert who, in 685, after being granted lands in Cumberland by Aldfrith, the new King of Northumbria, founded a monastery in the area. The land around the South of Carlisle became known as the Parish of St Cuthberts.
Stoneraise Bridge
Named by the children who attend a local primary school close to the bridge. Students from the school were invited to visit the site and the bridge and learn about the Carlisle Southern Link Road. Their School Council put forward the name for the Bridge, which was accepted. The bridge and the project include a new shared use path to the school which will provide a new safe means of access for pedestrians and cyclists to the school.
Michael Martin Bridge
Named after a local bridge engineer who grew up in Carlisle and studied at the Carlisle Technical College. In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his role in the construction of the Queensferry Crossing the largest three-tower cable-stayed bridge in the world. Not bad for a local lad.
Hudson Scott Bridge
Named after Hudson Scott the Carlisle based printers (Metal Box). Their Carlisle works was the largest and best equipped of their kind in the country, and their decorated metal boxes made them pioneers of the metal printing industry in Great Britain and renowned the world over.