History

Warrington Transporter Bridge (also known as Bank Quay Transporter Bridge or Crosfield's Transporter Bridge) across the River Mersey is a structural steel transporter bridge with a span of 200 feet (61 metres). It is 30 feet wide (9 metres), and 76 feet (23metres) above high water level, with an overall length of 339 feet (103 metres). It was commissioned in 1916 and, although it has been out of use since about 1964, it is still standing. It was designed by William Henry Hunter and built by William Arrol and Co.

The bridge as it stands today

It was originally one of two such bridges across the Mersey at Warrington, the other having been erected in 1905 slightly to the north of the existing bridge. Sadly, this first bridge is long gone, although it is not known what year it was removed.

The first transporter bridge taken around 1906, viewed from the west.

The second Transporter Bridge, which is still standing today, was built to despatch finished product from the cement plant that had been built on the peninsula. It was originally designed to carry rail vehicles up to 18 tons loaded weight.

This photo shows the gondola carrying a rail wagon across in May 1920. Photo produced with kind permission of Unilever from original in Unilever archives.

A Dorman Simplex 0-4-0 loco 1919-22 has collected a wagon that has come over from the peninsula. From the archives of the British Commercial Vehicle Museum at Leyland.

The bridge was converted for road vehicles in 1940, and was certified to carry loads of upto 30 tons in 1953.

The Transporter Bridge in use in 1951, by which time it had been converted for road vehicles.

View from the gondola looking towards the the side of the bridge that is currently accessible to the public. Photo from a collection by Richard Davies dated 1964.

This photo shows the gondola carrying a rail wagon across from the peninsula in 1928.
Photo produced with kind permission of Unilever from original in Unilever archives.

The bridge is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and because of its poor condition it is on their Heritage at Risk Register. The bridge is protected as a Scheduled Monument.

This website has been developed by the group 'Friends of Warrington Transporter Bridge' (FoWTB) which was formed in April 2015 to act as the independent voice of the bridge. FoWTB is liaising with other interest groups to safeguard the bridge's industrial heritage status.