19th Century Cast Iron birdge question?

[Gareth]

I was wondering if any Cycle Chatters know anything about 19th century cast iron bridges, and more specifically cast iron bridges that span rivers and waterways.

Here in Norwich we have several bridges that span the River Wensum, but each of the cast iron bridges has a spout leading from them. I have asked around locally but no one seems to know about the function of these spouts.

Here is what I know about them:

1) The access hole to each spout is 8 inches in diameter.

2) The Spouts are only on the upstream side of the bridges.

3) The spouts are on the right hand side of the bridges (to the right of centre) which is the downstream navigational channel (boats navigate on the right hand side of rivers, canals and channels, etc.).

4)The spouts are not for shedding rainwater from the bridge's road way because they are located near to the centre of the arch in the road way, and there are drainage run-off channels where each road meets the bridges.

5) Two of the cast iron bridges that feature the spouts are constructed of open lattice ironwork that negates the need to provide a spout to drain the roadway of the bridge.

6) All of the bridges featuring the spout are in areas of Victorian industry: that was the main reason for replacing the original crossings with the then stronger modern cast iron of that era.

Here are some photos that I took on Saturday afternoon:












Hopefully one or two of the Cycling Chat history buffs can answer my questions.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Quick google says for fire hoses to extract water from the river...

http://www.norwichcamra.org.uk/walks/walk1.pdf

 

[sunnyjim]

Can't give an answer but there is a small remnant of a bridge on my commute which has something similar I've always wondered about. (for Edinburgers, this is on Quality Street in between Davey Mains and Queensferry road - the parapet is only visible on the E side of the road). There's no longer any sign of the original stream, which presumably was drained/culverted, but there are 2 curious apertures in the middle of the span. I'd assumed this was to allow discharge of something horrible into the water from a vehicle/cart on the road.

 

[Headgardener]

The fire hose aperture seems to be the most likely explanation IMHO.

 

[Globalti]

Have you asked at your local museum?

 

[Globalti]

Everywhere you go in Britain fire engines top up their tanks from hydrants. Perhaps in Norwich it was decided that it was worth setting up these pipe guides so that they could also top up from rivers while crossing the bridges.

Here's an 18th century cast iron aqueduct: https://www.waterways.org.uk/shrewsbury/first_iron_aqueduct