Pictures of Blue Bridge from York Explore & Art Gallery, York Press and the Cardindex Archive
Blue Bridge History
In 1730, the tree-lined New Walk was laid out along the Ouse through St George’s Field as far as the confluence with the river Foss.
The walk was so popular that it was extended in 1738, with a new blue-painted timber bascule-type lift-bridge constructed to carry the path over the river Foss. This bridge is just visible in Nathan Drake's drawing of New Walk in the collection of images below.
The original bridge was replaced in 1767 with an elegant masonry arched bridge, with stone balusters, pictured above. It has not been possible to discover who designed this elegant bridge but it may have been John Carr, who had designed Pikeing Well, further down New Walk. In 1795 a swing bridge was installed to allow boats to pass more easily into Brownie Dyke, to reach Castle Mills lock and the newly constructed river Foss navigation. The navigation went as far as Strensall although little traffic went that far, but the navigation led to rapid industrialisation of adjacent land through the city, including the glassworks in Fishergate (read about it HERE). The bridge was replaced in 1834 with another wooden structure.
The city council bought the Foss Navigation in 1857 and improved navigation through the city to allow bigger barges to reach Leetham's huge flour mill in Hungate. Castle Mills bridge and lock were rebuilt and Blue Bridge was reconstructed with a metal lifting bridge of a similar design to the present structure. Two Russian guns captured at Sebastopol in 1855, were installed on plinths either side of the bridge, with plaques recording the names of York soldiers killed in the war. Richard Greenwich has researched the memorial and you can read his interesting article HERE
The present Blue Bridge was installed in 1929. During 2020, the two moving bridge decks were lifted out by crane and taken away to be refurbished. The bridge and railings were all repainted and the timber deck of the bridge was also replaced and covered by non-slip surfacing. FFH member and artist Brenda Tyler made delightful watercolour sketches of the works, and has put them on cards which can be bought from Alligator Wholefoods in Fishergate. To see Brenda's atmospheric artworks click HERE
The adjacent flood barrier was built in 1986, to prevent high water in the Ouse from flowing back into the Foss and flooding large areas of the city, the cause of so much misery in 1978 and 1982, and again when flood flows in the Foss overwhelmed the pumps at Christmas in 2015. The original pumping station had eight massive electric pumps discharge up to 30 tonnes of water per second around the barrier into the Ouse. Since the catastrophic 2015 flood, the building and pumps have been replaced so the total capacity is 50 tonnes of water per second.
Click on a picture to enlarge it, read the caption and open a slide show
Pictures of Blue Bridge from York Explore & Art Gallery, York Press and the Cardindex Archive
Blue Bridge History
In 1730, the tree-lined New Walk was laid out along the Ouse through St George’s Field as far as the confluence with the river Foss.
The walk was so popular that it was extended in 1738, with a new blue-painted timber bascule-type lift-bridge constructed to carry the path over the river Foss. This bridge is just visible in Nathan Drake's drawing of New Walk in the collection of images below.
The original bridge was replaced in 1767 with an elegant masonry arched bridge, with stone balusters, pictured above. It has not been possible to discover who designed this elegant bridge but it may have been John Carr, who had designed Pikeing Well, further down New Walk. In 1795 a swing bridge was installed to allow boats to pass more easily into Brownie Dyke, to reach Castle Mills lock and the newly constructed river Foss navigation. The navigation went as far as Strensall although little traffic went that far, but the navigation led to rapid industrialisation of adjacent land through the city, including the glassworks in Fishergate (read about it HERE). The bridge was replaced in 1834 with another wooden structure.
The city council bought the Foss Navigation in 1857 and improved navigation through the city to allow bigger barges to reach Leetham's huge flour mill in Hungate. Castle Mills bridge and lock were rebuilt and Blue Bridge was reconstructed with a metal lifting bridge of a similar design to the present structure. Two Russian guns captured at Sebastopol in 1855, were installed on plinths either side of the bridge, with plaques recording the names of York soldiers killed in the war. Richard Greenwich has researched the memorial and you can read his interesting article HERE
The present Blue Bridge was installed in 1929. During 2020, the two moving bridge decks were lifted out by crane and taken away to be refurbished. The bridge and railings were all repainted and the timber deck of the bridge was also replaced and covered by non-slip surfacing. FFH member and artist Brenda Tyler made delightful watercolour sketches of the works, and has put them on cards which can be bought from Alligator Wholefoods in Fishergate. To see Brenda's atmospheric artworks click HERE
The adjacent flood barrier was built in 1986, to prevent high water in the Ouse from flowing back into the Foss and flooding large areas of the city, the cause of so much misery in 1978 and 1982, and again when flood flows in the Foss overwhelmed the pumps at Christmas in 2015. The original pumping station had eight massive electric pumps discharge up to 30 tonnes of water per second around the barrier into the Ouse. Since the catastrophic 2015 flood, the building and pumps have been replaced so the total capacity is 50 tonnes of water per second.
Click on a picture to enlarge it, read the caption and open a slide show