Vignoles Bridge
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Vignoles Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Vignoles Bridge | |
| Coordinates | 52°24′24″N 1°31′15″W / 52.40659°N 1.52077°W |
| Carries | Pedestrian traffic |
| Crosses | River Sherbourne |
| Locale | Spon End, Coventry, England |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | cast iron arch bridge |
| History | |
| Opened | 1835 (moved 1969) |
| Location | |
 | |
Vignoles Bridge is a footbridge over the River Sherbourne in Spon End, a western suburb of Coventry in central England. It stands just west of the inner ring road in the middle of a housing estate, to where it was relocated in 1969. It was built in 1835 and originally spanned the Oxford Canal. The bridge is a single-span cast-iron arch and is a scheduled monument.[1]
Vignoles Bridge is a single-span cast iron elliptical arch. Elliptical arches became popular in Britain in the second half of the 18th century because they allow for greater headroom at the ends. They thus became popular on canals, which have a towpath to the side, because they could be built with room for a horse to walk underneath. Many cast-iron bridges in this style were built and became common on canals around Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. The walkway is covered with tarmac and has cast-iron balustrades with geometric piercings in the metalwork either side. The abutments are in red brick with their own parapet; these splay outwards at the landward ends.[1][2]
The bridge spans the River Sherbourne in the middle of a housing estate in the Spon End area, just west of Coventry city centre and just outside the inner ring road. The river flows through the city centre in a culvert, which it enters just beyond the bridge.[2]
