Grandpont Bridge
Coordinates51°44′50″N 1°15′39″W / 51.747134°N 1.260942°W / 51.747134; -1.260942
CarriesFootpath, Cycleway
CrossesRiver Thames
LocaleOxford
Characteristics
MaterialIron
Height12 feet 0 inches (3.66 m)[1]
History
ClosedMarch 2021 (Temporary)
Location
Map

Grandpont Bridge is a footbridge across the River Thames near the centre of Oxford, England that was temporarily closed in March 2021. It links Friars Wharf in St Ebbes on the north bank to the Geoffrey Arthur Building of Pembroke College, built in 1990,[2] and the Grandpont area. It crosses the Thames on the reach between Iffley Lock and Osney Lock.

The bridge was also used by cyclists. It lies on the Hanson Way, part of National Cycle Network route 5.[3]

The Environment Agency refers to the bridge as "Grandpont Bridge".[4] Other sources also call the bridge "Oxford footbridge",[5] and "Gasworks Pipe Bridge",[6] the name being for the town gas, chiefly methane, produced by the treatment of coal and its less congealed coke form in particular.

The bridge was built in the 1930s.[7] The bridge only carried a utility pipe and lacked a walkway in 1977.[8] Following a survey which revealed a danger of collapse, it was closed to traffic in March 2021.[6] A contractor was appointed to fix the bridge in April 2023, and works are scheduled to be complete by October 2023.[9]

The bridge takes its name from Grandpont, the area south of the bridge, which itself takes its name from a much earlier bridge-causeway which included the next bridge downstream, now known as Folly Bridge.

References

  1. ^ River Thames Alliance. Bridge heights on the River Thames.
  2. ^ Pembroke College website. Archived 2013-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Sustrans: The Hanson Way" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  4. ^ Environment Agency: Users Guide to the Thames, p.41
  5. ^ "Oxford Footbridge - 'Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide'". thames.me.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b Council, Oxford City. "Temporary closure of footbridge into city centre". www.oxford.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  7. ^ The 1936 Ordnance Survey map shows no bridge. An aerial view from the 1930s shows the bridge, in The Changing Faces of St Ebbe's and St Thomas, Book One ISBN 1-899536-17-5, page 29.
  8. ^ Curl, James Stevens (1977). The Erosion of Oxford. Oxford Illustrated Press. p. 117. ISBN 0-902280-40-6.
  9. ^ Council, Oxford City. "Gasworks Pipe Bridge – contractor appointed". www.oxford.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2023.

See also

Next crossing upstream River Thames Next crossing downstream Gasworks Bridge (pedestrian) Grandpont Bridge Folly Bridge (road)
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