Where was this photograph taken ?

[Robin Garrett]

22 minutes ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

There's one beneath the cathedral that looks to have round arches, but I'm not sure that one has enough arches.

Framwellgate Bridge - could be

[ss002d6252]

19 minutes ago, Robin Garrett said:

Framwellgate Bridge - could be

Too many arches - only two are visible on Framwellgate bridge.

 

Craig

12 hours ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

Perhaps a Durham expert might know if this location is in the North East?

@ss002d6252

Not somewhere I recognise.

Craig

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Sorry, mislead you.

I meant this one, Prebend's Bridge:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prebends_Bridge

 

I know this isn't the bridge in the photo, as that one has at least 4 arches, Prebends has only 3, but I think it otherwise looks very similar:

Similar one-colour stone, Round arches, Similar Broad High buttress, similar belt course, similar corbels, similar parapet.

But there again, this style of stone bridge although not by any means universal, might well have been a common style.

Or perhaps more common in the  North of England?

[Gunner Hall]

The only problem I can see, for this being Prebends Bridge,  is that the "ship" / Industrial thing.  In @ 1920  this would be right where Durham school is or was!

 

It also could be Dinghams Bridge, Ludlow.  Heart of KSLI territory.  There again,  according to the 1913 )S 1/25,000 map there's nothing remotely ship like to the North West. 

Edited 9 December , 2020 by Gunner Hall

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

2 hours ago, Gunner Hall said:

he only problem I can see, for this being Prebends Bridge

I tried to make it clear, that it isn't Prebends (IMHO), as it doesn't have enough arches.

It just looks like it in many other ways.

2 hours ago, Gunner Hall said:

It also could be Dinghams Bridge, Ludlow

Good suggestion, but:

-Only 3 arches.

- Buttresses appear to be half -round columns and don't seem quite right.

- Not a flat road deck.

 

[ss002d6252]

15 hours ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

I tried to make it clear, that it isn't Prebends (IMHO), as it doesn't have enough arches.

It just looks like it in many other ways.

Good suggestion, but:

-Only 3 arches.

- Buttresses appear to be half -round columns and don't seem quite right.

- Not a flat road deck.

 

The other aspect which rules out Prebends is that it's in a steep valley (and there's not an open area to the side of more than 30ft or so in width before it hits the steep hillside).

 

It is a relatively common bridge design in the NE - not sure about other areas.

 

Craig

[SteveMarsdin]

As one of their battalions was in Ireland, could it be there ?

 

Steve

 

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

4 hours ago, SteveMarsdin said:

As one of their battalions was in Ireland, could it be there ?

It could be any regiment, anywhere...

[TullochArd]

4 hours ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

It could be any regiment, anywhere...

 

very true ....... but I now know an awful lot more about bridge architecture Dai

[themonsstar]

The territorial returns for there two weeks summer camp in the early 1920s should tell us where they were, if anyone as copies.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Just reviving this thread having seen several 'maybe's' on TV news of raging rivers in the North of England.

I saw a report from Boston Spa bridge, but it isn't I don't think.

Come on, knuckle down. Somebody knows something surely?

[NigelS]

I've just spent the last hour or so trying to convince myself that it is, and then again, that it isn't the Park Bridge viaduct, Tameside near Ashton Under  Lyne and I haven't been able to come to a conclusion, so thought I'd put up the details for others to have a look at.  Unfortunately the viaduct was demolished in the 1970s and the area has changed beyond recognition from the industrialised area  it was back then so looking at Google Earth & similar doesn't help

This aerial image (said to be early 20th cent) https://archaeologytea.wordpress.com/2020/07/05/park-bridge-ironworks-engaging-with-industrial-heritage-on-the-rural-fringes-of-manchester-a-twitter-paper/ shows  the Park Bridge area  (this link https://images.app.goo.gl/k84vhTcXHDdKkPN58 gives a smaller version but without the labels)

A copy of the 25" OS map published in 1922  can be found on The National Library of Scotland website : https://maps.nls.uk/view/126521939 (Park Bridge is to the extreme right, centre)

My thought were that, if it is this area, the photo would have been taken from the road adjacent to the boundary of the 'Bright Shop' (this is Waggon Road) looking over towards the viaduct in the general direction of Dean & Dingle Terraces. 

1)  I'm not at all convinced that the architecture of the viaduct actually  matches that of the one being hunted, or that the lie of the land - particularly in respect to the roll of the land on the far side of Waggon road - is that good a match, but believe the layout of the mystery area ought to at least  be along similar lines to that of the Park Bridge area

2) It appears that the viaduct is much taller, but this might be explained by the fact that it's an aerial view  showing the bases of the arch columns and many more of them;  the view from ground level of the right hand arches would have been obscured by the apparent rise in land to its right as Waggon Road bends round to the right to go under the viaduct - the mystery  image only appears to show  what might be the last three and a half arches to the left; Waggon road - if it is such - would be going under the first of  a total of nine (possibly ten with, apparently, a further shorter one, mostly hidden, to the right of  the one taking road under it)

3) the left hand arches have higher ground in front of them which would tend to make them appear shorter than they actually were

4) the bend in Waggon road is very nearly a right angle, as appears to be the case with road in the image we're trying to identify; also there's a possibility of a short spur off to the left (this would be where the policeman's standing); The OS map does show a light railway/tramway in that area, but this might not have existed by the time of the photo, or the crowd might even have been standing on it!

5) There are a number of tall chimneys ( the Roller shop & Cotton Mill both appear to have two each)  beyond the viaduct (not labelled as such on the OS map possibly because they are not free standing as are those that are, and marked 'Chy') seems likely that - regardless or not as to whether this is the right area - that it is chimneys that can be seen on the mystery image as the vertical dark bars  (originally mistaken as being part of  a ship); I can imagine - certainly, with some doubts - that a certain angle of view from Waggon road might give the  image shown; between the chimneys - if they are such - there appear to be rooflines, possibly those of the Roller Shop & Cotton Mill?  Unfortunately it's difficult to tell the relative heights of the viaduct, the buildings on its far side & Waggon road from the aerial images, so whether such a view of the chimneys and roof lines as shown in the mystery image would be possible from Waggon road, is not in any way certain.

6) no sign of the haystack - if it is such - on the Park Bridge images! 

7) the railings visible to the right hand side of the road in the mystery photo are a type that would normally be placed around gardens or parkland rather than the scrubland/rough ground shown in the Park Bridge images (the OS Map shows 'Old shaft (coal) so the area is likely to have been disturbed by mining activity

8) It's not clear from the aerial image whether the hedge shown in the mystery photo is present or not; similarly to the ornamental fence, would the heavy industrial works shown have had a hedge?

9) Another thing that puts doubts in my mind is what the soldiers might be doing in this area - guess that could be said of any location though -  true they might be on route for a camp locally, or just passing through on a much longer journey/route march, but Park Bridge does appear to be rather off the beaten track for travelling between larger population centres; a long shot might be that they de-trained at Park Bridge  station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Bridge_railway_station If they had done so, it looks as if they would have had to march under the viaduct  from its east side to allow their journey onwards along Waggon road, there apparently - from the OS map - not being a more direct route from  the west side of the station.

NigelS

 

 

 

[m0rris]

I'm hoping this could be a contender.. It's the former mill town of Wetherby, Yorkshire.

I've always thought that there appears to be a small "island" in the river to the left of the bridge which ties in with the modern images. The bridge looks a good match too. Also the "park" area is still there - although diminished having been built on in a sympathetic style. The distant buildings and chimneys look to have gone and again replaced by newer stone houses. I've see different styles of mill chimneys - tall thin and tapered at the top but also shorter ones as seen in the original image.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

41 minutes ago, m0rris said:

I'm hoping this could be a contender.. It's the former mill town of Wetherby, Yorkshire.

Close, but not quite I don't think.

The original bridge has a row of square corbels along its length which aren't present on the Wetherby.

Do all bridges in Yorkshire look the same? Perhaps they were designed like that to fool the Germans?

[George Rayner]

Try this image for Wetherby

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/EPW023538

George