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Hereford Road Skew Bridge is a disused railway bridge in Ledbury, Herefordshire. Built in 1881 to carry the Ledbury and Gloucester Railway across the Hereford Road at an angle of approximately 45°, it was built as a ribbed skew arch with stone spandrels and wing walls, and ribs of blue brick.〔 〕〔 〕 The railway line was closed in 1959 and the bridge is now used as part of the Ledbury Town Trail footpath.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】Photo by D. J. Norton, Ledbury )〕〔 〕 ==History== The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal opened in two phases in 1798 and 1845, but in 1863, after a period of financial difficulty, it was leased to the Great Western Railway and in 1881 work started on converting the southern section into a railway.〔 〕 The Ross and Ledbury Railway Company's intention was to build a line between Ledbury and Ross-on-Wye via Dymock, where the Newent Railway Company planned a junction and a line that would link to the Great Western Railway at Over Junction, west of Gloucester. Both companies received Parliamentary approval in 1873, but due to financial difficulties building was delayed for two years, by which time the Ross and Ledbury Railway had abandoned its plan to reach Ross and linked with the Newent Railway head-on to provide a through route from Ledbury to Gloucester.〔 The line opened to traffic on 27 July 1885, when the existing Ledbury station was renamed Ledbury Junction, the Ledbury and Gloucester line curving away from the Worcester and Hereford Railway line on an embankment immediately west of the station.〔 〕 Just south of the junction the double-track line was carried at an awkward angle of approximately 45° over the Hereford Road, now part of the A438, by an arch bridge of "unusual design".〔 〕 The two smaller companies were amalgamated into the Great Western Railway in 1892, and on 4 January 1917 the double track between Ledbury and Dymock was singled to provide materials for the Great War.〔〔 〕 The line closed to passenger traffic on 11 July 1959, with the section between Ledbury and Dymock closing completely and Ledbury Junction station reverting to its old name, while the southern section remained open to freight traffic until 30 May 1964.〔 Many bridges along the closed line were dismantled and in some cases just the abutments remain, but Hereford Road bridge remains intact and is currently in use as part of the Ledbury Town Trail footpath, with a nearby information board making the following extravagant claim:〔〔〔 〕 The skew canal bridge to which reference is made is still in place at Monkhide, carrying a minor road over one of the few remaining stretches of the old canal.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】Yarkhill Parish and its History )〕 However, now that the railway has been dismantled the canal has become the subject of an active and ambitious restoration scheme.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hereford Road Skew Bridge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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