Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Footpath to the north and running along the top of a ridge of spoil linking Craylands Lane to Knockhall Road added during the 1920s. At this point a cast-iron footbridge was built to span the gap between the quarry edge and the footpath causeway, needed to allow the western tramway to pass. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• FOOTBRIDGE (Modern - 1920 AD? to 2050 AD (post))

Full description

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Footpath to the north and running along the top of a ridge of spoil linking Craylands Lane to Knockhall Road added during the 1920s. At this point a cast-iron footbridge was built to span the gap between the quarry edge and the footpath causeway, needed to allow the western tramway to pass. (1) the footbridge is 81m in length, longer than the width of the gorge. It is of a box frame and angle iron construction, with a long series of X-braces between upright iron posts forming the sides, infilled with a diamond mesh. To the east the bridge supports have been covered by the backfilled Thanet Sands, but on the eastern edge of the gorge a remaining pillar of chalk is visible. At the top of each side of the gorge is a concrete pad on which the bridge directly rests, and where the bridge passes over the centre of the gorge, there are iron framed supports that also rest on concrete pads. (2)

<1> Essex County Council, 2003, Aggregates Levy Survey Industrial Sites, KN877/786 (Unpublished document). SKE12009.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, March 2004, Swanscombe Heritage Park and Craylands Gorge, Swanscombe, Kent. Archaeological and Geological Desk Based Assessment (Unpublished document). SWX12883.

Sources and further reading

Related records