Suspension Bridge

History


The Queen's Park Suspension Bridge connects The Groves with the affluent Queen's Park area of Chester. Queen's Park was planned on a greenfield site immediately south of the River Dee in 1851 by Enoch Gerrard. It was developed in the 1850s and 1860s as a middle class residential suburb. The Duke of Westminster originally intended to have the area laid out as a model industrial suburb but Victoria Pathway remains the only part of this vision that was realised. The residential development of Queen’s Park was slow and only four villas and two semi-detached pairs had been built by 1873. By 1910 the total had still reached only 17, although a further 10 houses had been built on St. George's Crescent to the south. The experience there, and at Curzon Park, suggests that the demand for exclusive property in Chester was smaller than the amount of sites available. On the southern edge of Queen's Park some smaller semi-detached houses had appeared in the mid 19th century around Victoria Pathway. There has since been extensive inter-war and post-war infill and eastward extension to the suburb.



The suspension bridge is the only footbridge to cross the River Dee in Chester apart from the footbridge attached to the railway bridge. It was originally built in 1852 at the instigation of Enoch Gerrard, Esq., the "projector and proprietor" of Queen's Park, the developing suburb across the river. According to Thomas Hughes, author of "The Stranger's Handbook to Chester":




 * "It was 'a pretty object in the landscape. Though of such spider-like construction, its capabilities and strength have been fully tested".

Chester Corporation took on the responsibility for this bridge in the early 1920s and decided to demolish it, The demolition took place in August 1922. It was replaced by a new bridge designed by Charles Greenwood, City Engineer and Surveyor. The opening ceremony, conducted by the Mayor of Chester, Councillor S.R. Wall, took place on 18 April 1923. It was superbly restored in 1998 and again in 2012.

The 1923 bridge bears a striking resemblance to the 1922 Porthill Bridge in Shrewsbury.

Confused Coats of Arms
The arms of The Earls of Chester are described in detail in Cheshire Antiquites (Strutt, 1838) as:


 * Hugh of Avranches: 1st Earl of Chester, created (1070-1101) - "Azure, a wolf's head argent" (silver wolf's head on blue)
 * Richard of Avranches: 2nd Earl of Chester (1101-1120) - "Crusilly, a wolfs head" (wolf's head with crosses)
 * Ranulf de Meschines: 1st Earl of Chester (1120-1129) - "Or, a lion rampant gules" (red lion on gold)
 * Ranulph De Gernon: 2nd Earl of Chester (1129-1153) - "Gules, a lion rampant argent" (silver lion on red)
 * Hugh de Kevelioc: 3rd Earl of Chester (1153-1181) - "Azure, six garbs or" (six gold sheaves on blue)
 * Ranulf de Blondeville: 4th Earl of Chester (1181-1232) - "Azure, three garbs or" (three gold sheaves on blue)
 * John Canmore: known as "John the Scot" Earl of Chester (1232-1237) - "Or, three piles gules" (three red wedges on gold)

It appears that the arms of Ranulf de Meschines and Ranulf de Gernon have been switched around on the suspension bridge. Some of the early coats of arms are very distinctive and appear to have "grabbed" very simple combinations of heraldic symbols - such as a rampant red lion on gold. These, as compared with later more complex coats, can be compared with "vanity number plates" in terms of their availability.

The shields had become rather weather-beaten over the years, and were impressively restored by David Kynaston in 2012/13. Cast out of lead, broken and missing parts were repaired. The shield were fully repainted and finished in 23 1/2 carat gold leaf. The "silver" wolves heads were finished in palladium leaf. Palladium is a rare metal and the major sources include the impact sites of meteorites. Thus, the "silver" on the suspension bridge may well be of extra-terrestrial origin.

Padlocks
Young people today have a habit of placing padlocks on bridges. These typically have a romantic message written on them - and are often known as "Love-Locks". Notable examples of such bridges include those in Paris, Serbia (where it started) and elsewhere. In 2013 there were a bondage-lovers paradise of such locks on the Suspension Bridge, and then, they started to disappear. It turned out that a local resident had taken it upon himself to remove them. However, exposure in a "U-Tube" video seemed to end that.

Flash-forward to 2014: as reported in the Chester Chronicle, Cheshire West and Chester Council have stated that the locks could make the bridge dangerous, as they could make the bridge "sway" in high winds. The Chester bridge has just 330 locks attached to its railings - weighing a total of about 24Kg or 3.77 stone. Council Engineers apparently said to the Chronicle that the extra weight of the padlocks has brought the bridge "close to its theoretical capacity to resist the effects of wind loading".

Undoubtedly fears were sparked after part of the Pont de Arts in Paris collapsed under the weight of 700,000 of the locks in 2014. To be fair enough, this is not about an extra 25kg of weight in the case of Chester, but more about the wind-resistance that the locks might create, and the potential litigation that might happen if anyone does have an accident within ten miles of the bridge and sues the Council for negligence.



Sources and links

 * Virtual Stroll shows the original bridge.
 * The bridge on flickr
 * The original chain bridge on "bridgemeister".
 * The current bridge on "bridgemeister"


 * Love-locks on the BBC;