Five of my Favourite Bridges. What are yours?

Another thing I could have mentioned in my post on the decline of Liberal Democrat blogging is the disappearance of the meme. They used to be everywhere: now you never see them.

Except that Mark Pack and Stephen Glenn seem to have started one. So here are five of my favourite bridges.


Tay Rail Bridge

© James Allan

When you take a train across it this does not feel like a bridge over a river or even an estuary. It feels like a bridge over the open sea.

And if that makes you a little nervous, don't look down. If you do, you will see the piers from the first bridge, which collapsed on a stormy night in 1879.


Hammersmith Bridge

© Ian S

This bridge was built in 1887 as a replacement for the earlier suspension bridge of 1827and is now the oldest of the Thames bridges in London, It is Grade II* Listed, but there are concerns about its structural soundness in the long term. So enjoy it while you can,


Lendal Bridge, York

© terry joyce

The route from the railway station to the minster. It looks almost rural here, but it is in the heart of the city. Nearby is the city library, where I used to work sometimes as a student, disturbed only by the mewing of the peacocks in the gardens of the Yorkshire Museum.


Dinham Bridge, Ludlow

© Ant Collis

I don't always get on with Ludlow, but who could not love this setting by the castle? Dinham Bridge links the ancient town with the woods on the other side of the Teme.


Trent Viaducts, Red Hill

© Chris J Dixon

A magnificent stretch of industrial archaeology. Travelling from the south you first pass the bulk of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station (now with the East Midlands Parkway station in its shadow), then you pass through the short Red Hill tunnel, with its castellated portals.

Immediately afterwards you find yourself crossing the Trent, which this far down is a serious river, Then you reach the complications of Trent Junction, where the lines to Derby and Nottingham diverge.