NHER 34557 (Monument record) - Vauxhall Bridge

Rare survival of wrought iron bridge with early steel strengthening.

February 1998. Listed, Grade II.
About 1850. Norfolk Industrial Archaeology Society date it to 1848.
Footpath section added 1900; originally for rail and tram. Rusticated stone abutments carry three 1848 longitudinal beams and three bowsting girders of 1900.
Information from (S1).
See also (S2).
Railway over bridge is part of site NHER 13576.
E. Rose (NLA), 10 June 1999.

However (S3) dates bridge to 1850 to 1851, rebuilt 1887, retaining much of original.
E. Rose (NLA), 20 January 2000.

July 2005. Norfolk NMP.
The central grid reference of the site has been altered from TG 5209 0801 to TG 5207 0802.
From 1931 the bridge also carried road traffic, diverted from the Bure Bridge which had been declared unsafe.
Evidence of a World War Two road and rail block, in the form of concrete blocks and scars in the road surface, is visible at both ends of the bridge described above on 1940s aerial photographs (S4 to S6). The blockade is first visible on photographs taken in March 1944 (S4) but may have been constructed earlier in the war. It consists of a linear arrangement of white marks on the surface of each end of the bridge. These probably mark the location of sockets into which anti tank obstacles such as bent pins and vertical rails could be inserted. They extend across both the central road compartment of the bridge, formerly the tramline (S7), and what was presumably still the rail compartment on the northeast side of the bridge. At the south-eastern end of the bridge there are also three large concrete blocks which may have held horizontal rails or may simply have been anti tank cubes.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 25 July 2005.

January 2010-November 2012.
A campaign for funding to restore the bridge was initiated in 2010. Described as 'dilapidated', the bridge was closed to pedestrian use for approximately one month in 2010 whilst initial repairs were made to make it sound for foot traffic (S9). A larger programme of restoration of the bridge on the eastern span was set to begin in November 2012. The work plan included cleaning the box beams and reducing the connecting transverse beams to the bare metal to allow for repair and repainting.
See (S8) and (S9) for further details.
H. White (NLA), 24 February 2010. Amended M Langham-Lopez (HES), 15 November 2012. Amended H. Hamilton (HES), 07 October 2024.

February 2011. Field observation.
According to a resident there are two large concrete blocks at the south-eastern corner of the bridge, which could be anti-tank cubes moved to the side of the road.
See (S10).
S. Howard (HES), 21 February 2011.