The Shelford Bridge is an important early wrought iron box girder road bridge built in 1873-4 over the River Leigh and designed by Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson (1827–1923) on the main road from Melbourne to Portland in Victoria, Australia.[2]
Shelford bridge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coordinates | 38°00′50″S 143°58′37″E / 38.014009°S 143.977054°E |
| Carries | [C143] Shelford-Bannockburn Road |
| Crosses | Leigh River (Victoria) |
| Locale | Shelford, Victoria, Australia |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Wrought Iron box girder |
| Total length | 60 metres (196 ft 10 in) |
| Width | 14.3 metres (46 ft 11 in) |
| Longest span | 19 metres (62 ft 4 in)[1] |
| History | |
| Opened | 1874 |
| Location | |
 | |
The crossing of the Leigh (or Yarrowee) River may lay claim to the first bridge built in Victoria, when a timber structure was erected in 1840. This was replaced in 1851 with a more substantial bridge on bluestone abutments and piers, and in turn the present iron bridge.[3]
The bridge stands on bluestone abutments and piers and has two half-through, wrought iron, box girders continuous over three spans, supporting a riveted wrought iron frame deck. Ironwork was imported from Liverpool via Geelong on the ship British Empire.[4]
The spans sit on roller bearings and the ironwork was fabricated on site from components made by the Ballarat ironworks of John Price. It is one of only a handful of bridges of this type in Australia, although there are a number of important European examples such as Brunel's Britannia Bridge.[5]
The 1874 bridge replaced an earlier structure from 1851, which evidently reused the bluestone abutments. CAC Wilson was responsible for a number of early bridges in the Leigh and surrounding shires in his 64 years of practice (1846-1910).[6]
The bridge is included on the Victorian Heritage Register, and was saved from demolition when local Country Roads Board engineer Peter Alsop convinced his superiors that a new bridge on a better road alignment was a preferable solution.[7]
References
edit- ^ National Trust Register citation B3263
- ^ Alsop, P. F. B., 1971, 'History of the Shelford iron bridge over the Leigh River, Bannockburn–Rokewood Road, Shire of Leigh'
- ^ Gary Vines, Metal Road Bridges in Victoria Part 1, National Trust of Victoria, 2003
- ^ Shelford Structure Plan, Shire of Golden Plains Feb. 2013
- ^ On My Door step, Bridge over Leigh River
- ^ National Estate Register: citation
- ^ "Bridge Over Leigh River (H1452)". Victorian Heritage Register. Heritage Victoria. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- Notes
- Colin O'Connor, Spanning Two Centuries, Historic Bridges of Australia. University of Queensland Press, 1985. p. 103
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