Scarborough Bridge, 4 Dec 2018

I know I’ve written about Scarborough Bridge before (a few times), but not since it officially opened, apart from a brief mention in Sunday’s wander. Looking through December photos from various years past I was reminded that on this day a mere one year ago I took the photo above, and wrote about how the long-awaited work had begun on the bridge.

A year on I wanted to include just a few photos and thoughts in recognition of the fact that the bridge is now officially open and in use, and that I’ve now been across it on foot and by bike.

Obviously there have been many photographs of the new bridge deck, on here and in many other places, highlighting its width compared to the older bridge, or showing its striking ironwork from the side, highlighting the differences from before. Also interesting though is how the bridge as a whole doesn’t look radically different from before when viewed from a bit more distance, and more head-on, rather than from the side, close-up.

Scarborough Bridge from the riverside at the end of Marygate, 1 Dec 2019

This seems worth mentioning as I recall some concerns expressed that the new bridge deck might look jarring or intrusive when viewed from other viewpoints, such as Lendal Bridge. It doesn’t. The visible difference is that the large stone blocks that previously added height on both sides have been removed. That seems like no great loss, as they always looked black and grubby, and seemed a bit overbearing.

Though I looked at many documents and watched the work as it progressed, it was hard to picture, until we could actually use the bridge, how it would work together, the rail lines and pedestrian/cyclist part, in terms of different levels and proximity. It works like this:

On Scarborough Bridge, 30 Aug 2019

There’s a real sense of linkage to the station now. There clearly always was, if you were on a train, as it’s always been a bridge carrying railway lines into the station. But as a pedestrian that sense of linkage wasn’t apparent on the old bridge. As was mentioned earlier, but let’s remind ourselves.

On the old bridge:

The pedestrian viewpoint from Scarborough Bridge (as it was), looking towards the station, 26 Nov 2018

And the new:

From the new Scarborough Bridge, looking towards the station, 30 Aug 2019

It’s so obvious it should be like this, and should have been like this a long time back.

In terms of the details, it has some nice metalwork, and paving.

Scarborough Bridge, details, station side, 1 Dec 2019

I have to mention that the slope to it, on the Marygate side, is rather different from the illustrations we were shown when the plans were approved, where there was a long straight slope starting quite some distance back, by the side of the car park. What there is, now the work has been completed, is a much shorter and steeper slope with quite a sharp bend onto the path by the car park. I assume there were good reasons for this change of plan, and I hope it isn’t causing problems between pedestrians and cyclists.

When the work was taking place I hoped we wouldn’t end up with any weird little bits of fenced-off land that might end up being littered with rubbish no one could get to to clear, (as was the case before, particularly by the sorting office, and is the case by the footbridge at the end of Bridge Lane). One such space seems to have been created on the Marygate side of the bridge …

Fenced off bit by Scarborough Bridge

As there are plans to alter the flood defences here perhaps this weird little bit of no-man’s land/litter collecting area is only temporary. I hope.

The earthy/grassed areas around the new impressive bridge look a bit rubbish. I’m not sure if there’s been some attempt to provide planting that is beneficial to bees/wildlife/humans, and that it just hasn’t got established yet. If it isn’t cared for and managed then no doubt the ubiquitous buddleia will drift down from the railway line and we’ll just have another load of that. Another waste of a bit of land. Instead I’m thinking of things we can eat, or at least make herbal tea from. More on that story later.

Anyway, hurrah for Scarborough Bridge, carrying the line that connected my railway ancestors to York to in the 19th century, and is a bridge now — at last — fit for the 21st century.

Opened in 2019

The post Scarborough Bridge, new cycle and footbridge, 2019 appeared first on York Stories.

Scarborough Bridge, with York railway station in background, 10 March 2019

After the previous page, a difficult subject to consider and try to cover, it’s very cheering to be able to return to the subject of the Scarborough Bridge upgrade, with photos taken recently.

When I wrote about this project previously, work had started to clear the ground, giving a clear view into the railway station. Now, as pictured above, we have the new structure in place, soon to connect to the station and to ramps on the Marygate side, all lifted above flood level.

There was a bit of a delay on the installation, but I hoped that if I headed up there this Sunday (10th) then both halves of it might be in place. As indeed they were, and I wasn’t the only person stopping to have a look. This bridge improvement has been recognised as essential, by so many people, for so long.

By Scarborough Bridge, 10 March 2019

The weather was rather grim and wet and dull, at this point. If I’m going to do justice to a thing like this photographically I like it to be illuminated by the sun. When the sun came out later in the day I thought I’d try again. It’s quicker by bike, so despite the freezing cold wind blowing into my ears as I cycled down Queen Anne’s Road I heroically continued on, and crossed Lendal Bridge and came back down the riverside to get some more and sunnier views from that side of the river. Just for you, dear reader.

Scarborough Bridge, from the riverbank by the sorting office, 10 March 2019

Then headed away from the riverside, by the sorting office, to have a look at the bridge work from the ramps by the station that the new bridge will lead into. Here’s the view from the lane by the sorting office.

Scarborough Bridge, from the lane by the sorting office, 10 March 2019

And then up the ramps, getting closer to the level of the new bridge deck.

Soon to be connected up …

And then on the level of it, peering through the fencing and mesh, seeing the level built up here to meet the new bridge deck.

Groundworks on the station side, towards Scarborough Bridge, 10 March 2019

Station side, 10 March 2019

All good to see. A river crossing eagerly awaited by many people.

When the first part of the new bridge deck was supposed to be in, it wasn’t, and on that particular Sunday afternoon I was one of a group of slightly disappointed people standing by the bridge discussing its absence.

When it did appear later I saw it first via images on social media, and it looked really narrow and small, and I was a bit concerned. (It brought to mind the Stonehenge bit in Spinal Tap.)

A relief then later to revisit the bridge and stand under it and realise that the curved parts of the structure (most obvious on the photos I’d seen) are only part of its width, and that the full width of it is more obvious when looking up from underneath, when it’s clear that there’s another part to it, more box-like.

From below – new Scarborough Bridge pedestrian/cycle deck, 4 March 2019

Also down here under the bridge, reminders of the work of previous generations, a detail I hadn’t noticed before.

E Thompson, York. Under Scarborough Bridge

Part of the long history of this river crossing, with its decks replaced and its heights adjusted, over time.

The City of York Council page on the Scarborough Bridge project has recently been updated, giving an opening date in early April. A bit later than originally advertised, as anyone who has been following this project with interest would have expected.

Quite a bit of work to do still, and I hope that the boards around the site will give some updated information. The representation of the progress of the work, in local media, from press releases, has been a bit confusing, which is one of the reasons I thought an update was necessary here on these pages.

Good to see something being built that will benefit the city’s residents, amid so many developments that I find it difficult to feel happy about. In the midst of all the destruction and mess …. building bridges … a good thing.

. . . . .

www.yorkstories.co.uk has been online for quite a while. It’s a resident’s record of York and its changes, a personal perspective on the city of York, UK. It has changed over the years, inevitably, but in general it tends to try to fill in the gaps, covering things not covered in local media, or looking at them in a different way. There are fewer ‘gaps’ to fill these days than there were in 2004, so I’m not adding to it so often, but it’s still a one-person effort, an independent resource, that in recent times has been supported by your virtual coffees. Thank you.

The post Scarborough Bridge update, March 2019 appeared first on York Stories.

Work begins on Scarborough Bridge (4 Dec 2018)

From one bridge, linked with the lines into the old station, to another bridge, carrying the York-Scarborough line into the current station.

Hurrah, the Scarborough Bridge upgrade has begun, the long-wished-for replacement of the cramped and inadequate pedestrian part of it. Work on the replacement structure, the fully accessible and rising-above-the-floods structure, is now underway. As far as I’m concerned this is probably one of the most exciting things that’s occurred in the local landscape in all the years I’ve been burbling on about York here on these pages.

A bridge is always a good thing, and new bridges across rivers are a particularly remarkable thing, and when they’re attached to a railway line they’re an even better thing, and when they’ll be used by as many people as this new upgraded one will be … well, I think it’s chuffing marvellous.

I’ve been along a few times over recent weeks to see if there was anything noticeably changed. I approached from the Marygate side. By late November most of the vegetation on the embankments had been cleared in the areas closest to the bridge. Here’s the Marygate side of the river:

Clearance work on the Marygate side of the bridge, 30 Nov 2018

A more impressive and striking view presented itself on my earlier wander that way, a few days before, when after peering through the fences on the Marygate side I turned around to cross the bridge to the station side, and saw the clearance work there:

Vegetation clearance by Scarborough Bridge reveals view of York Station (26 Nov 2018)

Normally I’d feel saddened by the sight of felled trees, but here, I wonder why those trees and the rather dull and litter-filled shrubbery were ever planted in the first place, because all that time they were blocking the view of the station. I stood there a while just looking across, beginning to get a better idea of how the whole new bridge deck was going to work here, what new angles on things it will open up. Looking at documents online isn’t quite the same as standing there and seeing the familiar view changed.

Then, on the bridge. The light wasn’t good by this point, so some digital enhancement of this photo was needed, but again, good to see the way being cleared for this narrow walkway I was on being replaced with something much wider and going straight across here …

From Scarborough Bridge, looking towards the station, 26 Nov 2018

… instead of ending at gloomy narrow steps, which we have to go down, then round a corner, up an alleyway and up a zigzag ramp to get to the end of the station. Imagine bypassing all that and going straight across from here, to the end of the station visible in the background, behind the steel fencing …

Scarborough Bridge: from the top of the steps (station end), 26 Nov 2018

But for now let’s take the existing route, going down the steps, to the corner of the alley by the sorting office, for a closer look at the clearance work on this side.

Vegetation clearance, by Scarborough Bridge, 26 Nov 2018

Then up the alleyway by the side of the sorting office, and up the zigzag ramp constructed a few years back. At its landing halfway up there’s a large steel fence stretching across, where we can look back towards Scarborough Bridge, and the rooftops beyond it.

From the edge of the station cycle ramp, looking back towards the bridge, 26 Nov 2018

When the steel fencing has gone, and the new accessible bridge comes in here, we might be better able to appreciate the rather nice view of the rooftops of the Bootham/Clifton area, with the spire of Clifton Methodist Church a clear landmark.

I’ve been surprised to see comments online recently from people who still think that the Scarborough Bridge upgrade work isn’t necessary, is a waste of money. I guess they’re people who don’t use it very often. The people who do rely on it to cross the river here, we know how difficult it is for so many people, and we all stand there being patient while parents struggle with getting pushchairs up the steps, and people with bikes try to push them as quickly as possible up the narrow bit of concrete at the side of the steps, and of course we never see anyone in a wheelchair crossing this bridge, because they can’t. For a major river crossing so close to a railway station in a city like York this is a ridiculous situation in the 21st century. So is the fact that any time there’s severe flooding the pedestrian part is inaccessible to everyone, as the bottom of the steps are covered in floodwater and outside the floodgate.

As shown in this photo, taken during the floods in September 2012:

Scarborough Bridge, steps inaccessible, during the September 2012 floods

And in this photo, taken during the floods in December 2015:

Scarborough Bridge, steps inaccessible, during the December 2015 floods

The new bridge, as it doesn’t rely on stepped access so close to the river, will still be accessible when the Ouse floods, as it does quite often.

Concerns were also raised about the heritage impact, in that the bridge work involves removing some of the stonework. Well, quite a bit of it. The parts being removed, those tall bits towering above the current pedestrian deck, aren’t, in my opinion, particularly beautiful. And, it has to be stressed, this bridge has been altered several times in its history, and doesn’t look like it did when first built. (See further information, below, for more on that.)

Since funding was secured, last year, there has been impressively quick progress on this project. It’s not that long since I wrote about the consultation on the ideas for the bridge upgrade, in July 2017, and then the submitted planning application, a year ago, in December 2017. The planning application was approved in March this year, and now here we are in the last month of 2018 with construction workers on site, working overnight at times, to get the work completed during the early months of 2019.

Further information

Scarborough Bridge, York, Statement of Significance (PDF). Prepared for Network Rail, October 2017 — discusses in some detail the many changes to the bridge since it was originally built, with plans and old photographs. Very clear and helpful in understanding those changes.

There were many interesting documents submitted with the planning application for this bridge work. They can be found on the planning portal: 17/03049/FULM. The report prepared for the planning committee meeting is a useful summary.

For my earlier pages on Scarborough Bridge, including historical notes, see all pages tagged Scarborough Bridge.

If you’re thinking that this work on Scarborough Bridge thing sounds familiar, from a few years back … it was the rail decks that were replaced at that time, the pedestrian walkway work had to wait until funding was available.

. . . . .

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The post Scarborough Bridge upgrade: photos and notes, as work begins appeared first on York Stories.

Hurrah! Much rejoicing! There’s an actual planning application for the Scarborough Bridge upgrade.

Yes, I am excited. It’s probably one of the most exciting and interesting projects relating to our local built environment that I’ve seen in the years York Stories has been online.

While putting finishing touches to the review of the year, I realised that I’d not heard anything recently about the (previously covered) plans to update the pedestrian and cycle access to Scarborough Bridge, and thought I’d have a quick check on the council’s planning applications portal. Didn’t expect anything to be there yet, until the New Year maybe, but there it is:

17/03049/FUL | Replace 1.8m footpath/cyclepath with 3.6m wide footpath/cyclepath with associated alterations to bridge abutments, ramps and stair access arrangements | Cycle And Footpath – Scarborough Bridge To Platform One Car Park York Station Tanners Moat York

The application was validated just before Christmas.

I’ve had a look through the documents, and done my best to study the details regarding where the steps and ramps will go, what it will look like.

Have to say that in this case I’m not overly concerned with what it looks like. It just needs to work, work better than what’s there now.

Anyone who’s interested can peruse the planning application documents in detail on the link above.

Here’s an extract showing the planned ramps and steps on the Marygate carpark side.

Detail from Network Rail proposed bridge and ramps works (PDF)

A few people have questioned whether the proposed work is necessary/worth the money. Of course it is.

“From the consultation it was clearly evident that there is strong public support for the proposed new bridge, with 135 (of 142) comments stating their enthusiastic support for the project. Comparably, there were only two objections received. Comparing this to previous public consultation exercises for transport schemes, this is perhaps the most (almost unanimously) positively received consultation the Transport team have conducted in living memory.”

– Richard Holland Transport Project Manager, City of York Council (Statement of Community Involvement) (PDF)

Can’t argue with that really.

Another extract from the planning application documents, explaining the need for the new access:

“The report highlighted the already high volumes of pedestrians and cyclists using the bridge (identified as on average over 2,600 pedestrians and over 600 cyclists per day) despite the unsatisfactory access arrangements where cyclists have to lift / wheel their bikes up the steep narrow steps and the footbridge deck itself is only 1.3 metres wide. The footbridge is currently inaccessible for wheelchair users or others with mobility impairments. Additionally the river crossing becomes completely unusable when river levels are high as the current access is via the steps from the riverside paths.”
– Network Rail, planning statement (PDF)

The planning application documents also make clear what I think many locals know already, that the bridge isn’t some outstanding example of railway architecture that needs preserving as it is. It has already been altered in the past when necessary.

It clearly does have heritage significance:

“The original Scarborough Bridge was part of the heroic age of railway building, when ‘railway mania’ gripped the country”
– Alan Baxter Ltd (Statement of Significance) (PDF)

And will still be there as a railway bridge, with trains to and from Scarborough rumbling across its recently replaced rail decks. If the plans are approved cyclists and wheelchair users and people with pushchairs can wheel by alongside, with pedestrians not having to squash past one another on a cramped walkway. Possibly as soon as 2019, if these plans are approved.

Subject to agreement by the Executive, a high level indicative programme is illustrated below:

31 August 2017: Executive Decision to Proceed subject to confirmation of funding
October 2017: WYCA and YNYER LEP Funding Decisions
November 2017– January 2018: Planning Application
March 2018: Award of contract for construction
January 2019: Completion

– report to council Executive, 31 Aug 2017 (PDF)

It appears to be on course so far, as we’re at planning application stage.

Excellent news.

I’ve written about Scarborough Bridge many times before.

Footnote

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The post Scarborough Bridge: plans in for upgrade appeared first on York Stories.

On the previous page, a fortnight ago, I left us standing on Bootham outside Bootham Park Hospital, looking in through the railings. About time we dashed off elsewhere, prompted by exciting plans for Scarborough Bridge.

It’s not far from Bootham Park to Scarborough Bridge, but we do need to cross a busy road, so let’s all remember to look both ways and only cross when it’s safe. Maybe hold hands. Though not if you’re on a bike, which you might be on this imaginary journey, which I’m going to write about from the perspective of a cyclist and a pedestrian, because the exciting news is relevant to people on two wheels and pedestrians.

We’re going down the street of St Mary’s, the entrance to which is pleasingly placed exactly opposite the once-grand gates to Bootham Park. If you’re on a bike, and have just cycled through the pleasant grounds of Bootham Park, following the blue signs indicating cycle-friendly routes, you’re perhaps continuing on the cycle-friendly route towards York station. In which case you might need to wait awhile for a gap in the busy traffic on Bootham, at certain times of the day. In the evening it’s quiet. Let’s imagine it quiet, as we walk/wheel on our way.

Then we’re on the handsome street of St Mary’s, and if it’s in the later part of the day, on a bright day in summer, a pleasing golden light will be ahead of us. It might bring to our attention these handsome old coal hole covers in the large slabs of pavement on the left hand side.

On the right, we might notice a monkey scaling the trunk of a monkey puzzle tree. (Or perhaps he’s figured it out and has moved off elsewhere since I took this photo?)

When we get near the bottom of St Mary’s we might notice on the right that one of the houses is called Fairbank House, a link to the gentleman who took the photos I’ve previously included from the Fairbank Archive, with their handsome handwritten captions. (‘Observe water standing‘.)

At the end of the street we find steps, as the level drops a little. Not many steps, but they’re inconvenient, making cyclists dismount, and making the route more difficult for anyone who finds steps more difficult than level or gently sloping ground. It’s only on this particular thoughtfully-analysed journey that I’ve thought about something I’ve always taken for granted, and now wonder why it is that way. I assume that the change of level here is something to do with the lane/snicket cutting across at the bottom of the street called St Mary’s, making its insistent and apparently ancient right of way from Marygate to Clifton/Shipton Road. (It’s featured on one of my more ancient pages, from 2004.)

But we haven’t time to think about the ancient things, as we’re rushing excitedly along the cycle/pedestrian access towards Scarborough Bridge. Across the ancient snicket, down the side of the car park (streets of terraced housing once, within living memory), alongside the York to Scarborough railway line. The railway line is hidden behind steel fencing and an area of trees, shrubbery, and litter.

It could be different, much better. At this point, by the car park, the steel fencing might give way to a gentle gradient heading over an improved Scarborough Bridge footbridge/cycle bridge/generally more accessible bridge, towards the station:

Extract from plan of proposed new footbridge at Scarborough Bridge, Marygate side. (See www.york.gov.uk/scarboroughbridge)

Or that’s the plan. You can find more details on www.york.gov.uk/scarboroughbridge, and see the ‘further information’ links below.

It would mean the loss of some trees and shrubbery, which is the only thing I can think of that seems like a negative aspect. Otherwise it all seems positive. Particularly good is the way the ascent to the bridge on the Marygate side of the river starts some way back, along the side of the car park, meaning we don’t have to rely on the narrow path alongside the car park and then the ‘zig-zag’ access nearer the bridge.

There’s already a zig-zag sloped access on the other side of the bridge, with the newish access to the station from the lane alongside the sorting office (I wrote about it some years back):

Though on the plans, the new ramp from the bridge seems to join on what seems like the wrong side of the top bend. I’m wondering why it doesn’t join directly to the top straight, ie nearest to the rail lines, giving a straight line in. On these plans cyclists coming off the bridge would be crossing the path of pedestrians and cyclists on the corner and would have to swerve round. Perhaps there’s some railway infrastructure here that the new structure needs to skirt around? Or perhaps it’s deliberately designed to slow down whizzing cyclists at that point.

Extract from plan of proposed new footbridge at Scarborough Bridge, railway station side. (See www.york.gov.uk/scarboroughbridge)

I’ve also often wondered why this area on the station side couldn’t include steps as well as the zig-zag, for pedestrians in a hurry who would find it quicker and more convenient to dash up a short flight of steps as an alternative to the rather more time-consuming/longer zig-zag. I’m pleased to see that steps are included in the plans for changes on the Marygate side.

Another positive of the planned upgrade is that the sloped access starting further back/higher up will mean the bridge is still accessible in times of flood. Here it is pictured during the floods of September 2012, when it was completely inaccessible, shut off behind the low walls and gates holding back the river water:

When the bridge is accessible to pedestrians and cyclists it’s not the easiest or pleasantest place to cross the river. Here it is on a dark evening.

It’s narrow, and difficult for people to pass one another, particularly when pushing bikes. Many cyclists use it, but many more would use it if it didn’t involve having to carry your bike up the steps or push it on the rather inadequate sloped bits at the side of the steps.

If you’re a young fit person with a top-of-the-range lightweight bike then perhaps it’s not too much trouble, but for many of us with heavier bikes who aren’t super athletic it’s enough to put us off attempting to cross with a bike. I do sometimes, but have been eagerly awaiting the plans for an upgrade.

The other important aspect, of course, is that the current pedestrian bridge is of no use at all to wheelchair users.

Those gentle slopes proposed instead seem a delightful prospect, for all these reasons.

Historical notes, etc

What we know as Scarborough Bridge has already undergone fairly substantial change since it originally appeared as a new crossing over the Ouse for the railway line to Scarborough, and for pedestrians. The footpath used to run between the lines, rather than alongside them:

Extract from 1852 map (see https://yorkmaps.net/1852/)

A guide to York published in 1854 includes praise for this ‘noble bridge':

the noble bridge by which the York and Scarborough Railway is carried over the Ouse, and the Directors of the Railway Company, with great liberality, have made a public foot-path across the bridge, which is approached by a staircase in the abutments on each side. From this bridge a view of many of the most pleasing objects which this city possesses is at once presented.

Here’s a view from it taken in recent years:

Many people take photos of this view of Lendal Bridge from Scarborough Bridge, but I imagine that not many people take pictures the other way round, of Scarborough Bridge, so perhaps it doesn’t matter too much what the new addition to it looks like.

The plans don’t include an illustration of how it might look when viewed from Lendal Bridge and the riverbanks around, but thinking about this reminded me of one of the photocopied articles I have from the Yorkshire Evening Press in 1971, which included an illustration of how a bridge proposed at that time would look as it crossed the Ouse near Scarborough Bridge:

Yorkshire Evening Press, 31 March 1971

Yes, it’s the 1970s idea of a new inner ring road scheme to ‘solve city’s traffic problem’. I’ve written about this many times before. (As I’ve been writing this page you’re reading a fascinating comment has been added to one of those earlier pages, giving an insight into the impact of these 1970s plans, and the protests against them. I still can’t believe this was ever considered as A Good Idea. The destruction necessary to get this road through round the city centre would be unthinkable now.)

The piece in the Press begins, in rather excitable tones, with the proposal of ‘A dual-carriageway on stilts over the east coast main line’. Presumably dual-carriageway as it continued over the Ouse too.

The 2017 plans for an improved Scarborough Bridge were announced in recent days at the same time as a lot of media coverage regarding the increased pressure for upgrading the A64 and the outer ring road to dual carriageway.

The roads issue seems to have got a lot of attention, the bridge plans here in York centre not so much. But, as a commentator sitting by Scarborough Bridge once commented, it’s all connected.

We didn’t get a massive new inner ring road with a bridge across the Ouse to Marygate, we got a new outer ring road instead, some time later. It’s now clogged up and so new dreams of the ‘free-flowing road’ are being promoted.

As cycling becomes more popular the riverside cycle tracks can seem like they too need their width doubling, as cyclists and pedestrians jostle for space on the busier sections. I hope the new bridge here by the station is made wide enough for everyone who wants to use it to pass comfortably, now and for many years to come. It could end up like the Millennium Bridge on the other side of town, with people just sitting on it to admire the view and watch the world go by.

Though it’s not considered a thing of beauty, the old bridge, it has its moments, with its side arch on the Marygate side framing a view of the city as you walk along the riverside, and catching the sun beautifully on summer evenings. I hope the new structure won’t affect this.

Further information

There’s an opportunity to inspect the plans and discuss this proposal with the Project Manager at an exhibition in York Station foyer from 1pm to 6pm on Wednesday 12 July, and from 8am to 1pm on Thursday 13 July 2017.

You can also have your say by sending comments to scarboroughbridge@york.gov.uk or by post to: Scarborough Bridge Consultation, City of York Council, Transport Projects, Eco Depot, Hazel Court, York YO10 3DS.

For more information see www.york.gov.uk/scarboroughbridge, which includes a link to the PDF of the plans.

See also www.cyclecityconnect.co.uk/projects/york-scarborough-bridge/.

The proposed work follows replacement of the rail decks a couple of years back, something I followed and wrote about at the time. See this link for more.

Map

There’s a Google map to accompany this page.

. . . . .

This long-running resident’s record of York and its changes continues to be added to as often as I can. It seems important to keep track of local issues affecting the city’s built and natural heritage and to share the local knowledge I’ve built up over the years. If you enjoy this site, find it useful, and would like to support this work, you can buy me a virtual coffee. Your appreciation is appreciated.

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The post Walking/wheeling to Scarborough Bridge: plans consultation appeared first on York Stories.

By Scarborough Bridge, 5 May 2017

Friday evening, 5 May, just after 6pm. I dashed to the library before it closed, and after leaving the library intended to have a wander in town, maybe sit in the sun and watch the world go by. But town was too busy, and all the sunny benches were occupied, so I headed here to Scarborough Bridge, where there’s a suntrap of curved corner from the bridge supports on the riverbank, and a bench where you can sit and make the most of the late sunshine.

Iron bench by Scarborough Bridge (detail), 5 May 2017

So here we are, on a bench by Scarborough Bridge. Not a glamorous location, but a place I know well. And not the first time I’ve written a page inspired by sitting on a bench.

It can be quite difficult sometimes to get these pages to a stage where I can hit the ‘publish’ button. Sometimes I don’t feel like writing, sometimes I feel like writing but not about York, sometimes there are so many things I find myself thinking about that it’s hard to decide what to focus on. This week I thought about writing about Bootham Stray, or Baile Hill, or Bootham Park. Two of them seemed too complicated for a web page, one of them seemed too depressing.

So I sat by Scarborough Bridge, rather overwhelmed by complexities and different perspectives, and having thoughts too complicated to share here, and then after a few minutes the sun warmed me up and the people passing by on bikes and on foot looked cheery, and a dog stopped and stared at me and its owner said hello and smiled. And then I heard the cooing of the pigeons and looked at the light on the stone and thought I’d start from here. When in doubt, start from where you are.

So I looked, and listened, and paid proper attention. Then took some photos, then walked towards home, and took some more.

The pigeons up on the bridge were enjoying the evening sun, gently cooing, and courting, doing that nuzzling of the necks thing that pairs of pigeons do.

Scarborough Bridge pigeons, 5 May 2017

The sun also highlighted numbers in mortar on this side of the bridge’s stonework.

Scarborough Bridge detail, 5 May 2017

It appears to be a date, and is perhaps connected to the repairs to the bridge a couple of years back, which I wrote about at the time. Perhaps a signature of work done, like a modern version of a mason’s mark. Or perhaps not. Interesting anyway. They signify something, obviously.

There are many signs here in this small corner.

Scarborough Bridge signs, 5 May 2017

Confusing to see this bridge named ‘Ouse Bridge’, on Network Rail’s sign. Ouse Bridge is the road bridge a bit further down. Just one example of many I’ve seen of Network Rail’s strange and confusing signage.

A few metres away, on a post, there’s another sign, from the Canals and Rivers Trust, calling it by the name most of us know it as.

Signs by Scarborough Bridge, 5 May 2017

And then on the railings these two signs, denoting named sections of the riverbank. I’ve never understood these.

Signs near Scarborough Bridge, 5 May 2017

Why are two apparently random sections of riverbank named after famous York people, and more importantly, why does that need two massive great ungainly signs, alongside so many signs already? Are there similar ‘walks’ at the other end of town? A Frankie Howerd walk?

Among all that modern metal signage and railing is a very handsome piece of ironwork from an earlier time, which manages to be both sturdy and elegant. The bench I was sitting on.

Iron bench by Scarborough Bridge, 5 May 2017

I perhaps shouldn’t point it out as that might encourage the Civic Trust to come along and paint it. Many things are fine and dandy just as they are, and this is one example, so I hope they leave it alone.

There’s a similar bench on Wigginton Road, on the approach to the junction with Crichton Avenue bridge. I’ve never seen anyone sitting on that one, maybe that could be painted instead, to draw more attention to it.

Anyway, enough sitting about idly looking at signs. Fancy a walk by the river?

Off we go, heading out of town. As this is a path shared by pedestrians and cyclists we might have to go in single file or in twos, if there’s loads of us.

Pedestrian and cycle path, near Scarborough Bridge

There’s an old boathouse here, where the built-up area ends, before the floodbank starts and the ings lands open out. I noticed its sign:

Sign on disused boathouse, 5 May 2017

We are ‘urged’. I’ve never had the slightest inclination to climb onto this building, but now they’ve made it sound so exciting, with their urging, I feel like I want to.

But let’s proceed onto the gentle slope of the floodbank instead.

I’ve walked along here many times, but perhaps not before from this direction when it happened to be reaching springtime perfection. It made me stop and stare.

Riverside at Clifton, 5 May 2017

Covering the side of the floodbank facing away from the river, great billowing mounds of cow parsley.

Behind it the buildings of Clifton, including the landmark spire of Clifton Methodist Church.

Clifton buildings over riverside cow parsley, 5 May 2017

Looking back to where we’ve just been, over playing fields and housing, that apparently redundant boathouse looks like it would be a really good place for a pedestrian and cycle bridge to land, as described in my imagined perfect York, a few months back.

Boathouse and other buildings, riverside, 5 May 2017

But back to the present, and following the floodbank out of town, and looking over towards Clifton.

The more I walk, the more areas of interest I find. Currently I’m very interested in hedges, particularly the old gnarly ones. This hedge is quite interesting, and looking handsome with its new green growth.

Hawthorn hedge, Clifton, 5 May 2017

And then I spotted what looks like a gate in the middle of it, never noticed it before.

Forgotten gate, Clifton, 5 May 2017

It’s small and wooden and overgrown and no one’s been through it for years, but there’s still a trace of a path worn in the ground leading up to it, through the sticky weed.

It would have led to the ings from the grounds of Queen Anne’s school (which is still there but now St Olave’s School). I wonder if anyone out there remembers using it.

Further along, as I walked, a robin moved along the hedge. I remember hearing, and recording, a robin singing here, in this hedge, one December, some years back.

On the flat lands of the ings, on the other side of the floodbank, dogs were chasing sticks.

Dog enjoying Clifton riverside, 5 May 2017

There’s a new pond here, in an area where there was a bit of a depression in the ground already. I read somewhere, I think in a letter in the Press, that the sunken ground had been the result of a bomb dropped during the air-raids in the Second World War. If that’s true, I wish it had been left as it was. But it might not be true. I haven’t had chance to investigate. But I do know that this area is/was known as ‘Paddy’s Pitch’.

Beyond the pond on Paddy’s Pitch is a group of three trees I first took a photo of in December 2004, on the winter solstice. They’ve grown a bit since.

Clifton riverside, ‘Paddy’s Pitch’, 5 May 2017

An old watercourse called the Bur Dyke (or Burdyke, or Bur Dike) reaches the river near here, crossing this area under the ground, culverted. Another sign, on a small brick building near the end of the floodbank, reminds us of its existence:

Ye olde Burdyke pumping station … 5 May 2017

I’m quite fascinated by the old Bur Dyke, and wrote about it early last year, after it bubbled up in the floods of late 2015.

We turn away from the riverside area, along a snicket running by another thick hedge, apparently quite an old one:

Old hawthorn hedge, Clifton snicket, 5 May 2017

Halfway along there’s the place where a fantastic horse chestnut used to be, though you wouldn’t know it from the rough patch of earth left behind, unless you’d seen it and remember it, as I do.

And while remembering it, I noticed that springing from the hedge bottom a metre or two away is a young horse chestnut, all green and vigorous. Maybe from a conker the old tree dropped.

Young horse chestnut tree, Clifton snicket, 5 May 2017

Then after another short distance the hedge ends, and standing there in isolated glory is another horse chestnut, a huge thing, which I’ve admired often.

Huge horse chestnut, Clifton, 5 May 2017

I realise it’s on the line of the hedge and wonder if it started its life in that hedge.

At the bottom of its vast trunk is a tiny version of itself, nestled in the folds of its foot.

Old and new, horse chestnut, Clifton, 5 May 2017

Still on the course of the culverted Bur Dyke we then arrive at a triangular piece of land between snickets. One of the snickets is an ancient path, heading from Marygate to Clifton Green. I wrote about it on one of my 2004 York Walks.

This triangle of grass has recent additions, and appears to have become an area for encouraging wildlife. There are wooden structures, with hand-painted signs:

‘Creepie Crawlie Hotel’, Clifton, 5 May 2017

‘Make your mark’, Clifton, 5 May 2017

In the corner, by a patch of nettles, more signs, which I couldn’t make out at first. One said ‘Welcome’ and the other has an important message: ‘Don’t drop litter’.

‘Welcome’, 5 May 2017

‘Don’t drop litter’, painted sign, Clifton, 5 May 2017

Then I stood and looked back at the huge horse chestnut, with the light behind it, near a gate to the playing fields and with the ings beyond, and was struck by how this looks almost rural. Or it might, if it wasn’t for the ‘no parking’ signs and bollards to prevent parking.

Almost rural, Clifton, 5 May 2017

At the other edge of the triangle of grass, through a gate at the edge of school playing fields, looking back towards town, we have a fine view of the Minster over the back of Victorian housing on North Parade.

View towards Minster, from Clifton, 5 May 2017

If we then continue on the line of the old snicket, on the line of the old Bur Dyke, it takes us to Clifton Green.

Maybe a walk for another time. Thank you for your company. Please remember to take your litter home, and please feel free to pick up everyone else’s litter while you’re at it. Thankfully this springtime greenery has hidden most of it from sight.

Clifton snicket, 5 May 2017

Map

Google map of route and some of the features mentioned above.

. . . . .

Sometimes we go for a jolly jaunt like this one, sometimes we sit and ponder, sometimes we carefully observe council meetings, or follow planning applications planning the demolition of less well-known heritage assets. Sometimes, many times, we’ve noticed things that have led us into investigations of local histories and this has led to a wealth of local knowledge and memory of place not recorded elsewhere online.

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