page_title: Vignoles Bridge
hierarchical_section_title: Vignoles Bridge
caption_attribution_description: Some of the Horseley iron footbridges bridges on the Coventry and Oxford Canals built 1832-34, may have been designed by C. B. Vignoles. Vignoles Bridge - Meadow Street is a Scheduled (Ancient) Monument. These are subject to the Ancient Monuments Acts which take precedence over listed buildings procedures. Charles Blacker Vignoles (31 May 1793 – 17 November 1875) was an influential early railway engineer. Vignoles supervised the construction of the first railway in Ireland in 1834, and was then employed to survey and construct a number of railways in the British Isles and on in mainland europe. Between 1847 and 1853 Vignoles built, and also designed, the suspension bridge over the River Dnieper in Kiev, Russia. Five years later, he surveyed and supervised the construction of the 155-mile (250 km) Tudela and Bilbao Railway in Spain. A general form of construction developed for bridges spanning canals comprised four main side castings, two each side joined at the centre span by a form of locking plate and then bolted together. Cast iron plates were then fitted to these main castings by bolts or set screws forming an arch at the level of the bottom profile of the side castings and creating a smooth appearance. The upper surface of these plates was built up as necessary to form the deck of the bridge. Such bridges were cast for the Oxford and Coventry canals and many for the Birmingham Canal Navigation. Some years ago a bridge, no longer needed in service at Sowe Common, was moved from the Coventry canal to a site in the centre of Coventry.
context_page_description: Vignoles Bridge is a scheduled monument in the City of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. The bridge is a single-span iron footbridge over the River Sherbourne in the Spon End area, just to the west of Coventry city centre and 100 metres west-north-west of Sherbourne House.
  Thomas Telford developed the first techniques for maximising the potential of cast iron as a construction material, realising that the lighter frames could use flatter angles and less substantial foundations than timber bridges while preserving the single span, and thus the navigability of the waterways they cross. English Heritage, which is responsible for scheduling ancient monuments in England, considers all examples of iron bridges "which retain significant original fabric" to be of importance. Vignoles Bridge is of particular interest because it "survives well and retains its original features thus demonstrating its engineering design and reflecting the manufacturing process", despite having been moved from its original site.
  The bridge originally occupied a site on the Oxford Canal.
context_section_description: Vignoles Bridge is a scheduled monument in the City of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. The bridge is a single-span iron footbridge over the River Sherbourne in the Spon End area, just to the west of Coventry city centre and 100 metres (330 ft) west-north-west of Sherbourne House (an office building in use by Coventry City Council).
  Thomas Telford developed the first techniques for maximising the potential of cast iron as a construction material, realising that the lighter frames could use flatter angles and less substantial foundations than timber bridges while preserving the single span, and thus the navigability of the waterways they cross. English Heritage, which is responsible for scheduling ancient monuments in England, considers all examples of iron bridges "which retain significant original fabric" to be of importance. Vignoles Bridge is of particular interest because it "survives well and retains its original features thus demonstrating its engineering design and reflecting the manufacturing process", despite having been moved from its original site.
  The bridge originally occupied a site on the Oxford Canal (which runs from Coventry to Oxford). It is cast iron and was built at Horseley Iron Works—whose name is cast into the span of the bridge on one side—in Tipton around 1835. The bridge, which was designed by Charles Vignoles (after whom it is named), was moved to its current site in 1969. The walkway is covered with tarmac and has cast iron balustrades either side, while the abutments connecting the bridge to the river bank are brick.
caption: Vignoles Bridge
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