West Bridge, Blisworth, Northamptonshire, UK.

All pictures are presented at relatively low resolution.  There will be hundreds of pictures on this site - there is an economic limit to the webspace available.  The point of this presentation is that you can see for yourself the extent of the collection and return later as the collection expands - as it surely will.  Any interest in copies of a picture at a higher resolution (ie. clarity) should be directed through contacts given in the Blisworth "Round and About" parish council publication or using the comment form on the home page.  In some cases the pictures are not available due to copyright restrictions.  However, permission has been obtained, where possible, to include them here.  Printed below each image is the photographer's name, if known.

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34-19   This map is based on the 1812 award map.  The mill at the bridge, indicated by the pink square was not built until 1879.  Earlier than that, c. 1865, the High Street was straightened as shown by the pink lines, the bridge over the canal then consisted of two bridges in one; a humpbacked bridge dating from c. 1800 and a flat bridge based on a network of rolled steel girders.  There was originally a large yard in front of the Grafton Arms but this was tidied up to leave a triangle of land shown as green (now it is grass but for many years it was a dump for road mending materials too)  The small house marked where the triangle is was the house and shop of the foreman of the wharves - the "Wharfinger" - a Mr Thomas Goode at the time with John Whitlock son-in-law and lodger, father of "Witty".

In the picture shown here Witty is effectively pointing at his father's home.

There are other maps of similar vintage which raises interesting questions regarding the wharfs.

Most of the pictures which follow were taken in 1956/7 at the time of the renewal of the steelwork of the 1865 bridge.

This is a copy of Grafton Document G2533 (NRO) showing the layout of the bridge area in 1865.  The document relates to the house and garden south of the main road - ie. the wharfinger's house, prior to the road alterations.

34-00a   This view dated approx. 1910 relates well to the fan shape of the bridge and the straight alignment of the street.  There were ricks placed in the yard attached to the Half Moon Inn (Sun, Moon & Stars) ready for threshing - the publican Mr Capell and his successor ran a threshing team and probably hired one of Burbidge's machines.

34-00  An early picture of the bridge over the canal.  It is not likely to be of the original design as it is known that most bridges required flattening to cope with the Victorian demands for more comfortable travel.  Date c. 1900.

34-10   Similarly dated, taken from the other side.  The stretch opposite the towpath was a public wharf for many years - that is distinct from the commercial private wharfage on the other side of the bridge.  There were once piles of coal and road mending stone at this wharf.  The line of the hill railway, which was used briefly while the tunnel was being constructed, would have been to the extreme left of the picture and crossing the road where its level was the same as the foreground.  In this picture, and in 34-14 below, can be seen a retaining wall which supports a road that was probably elevated at the time of the bridge works in c. 1865.

The same wharf area pictured from the bridge in 1955.  The land was owned by British Waterways and in 1980 it was offered for development.  An application for relocating, nearer to the canal, the public path was successful and a single and rather large house was built on the land.

 Wharf repairs in c1970 near West Bridge.

34-01   The sequence beginning with this picture covers the bridge widening and strengthening over the period December 1956 to Spring 1957.  Compared to the picture number 34-00 above, it is evident that even before the 1950s the majority of the north facing side of the bridge, ie. this side, was renewed and this might have coincided with improved levelling of the road to facilitate traffic flow.

Evidently the job was an arduous one!