Yeolands Bridge
Yeolands Bridge, also known as Stoney Bridge, was a footbridge on the east side of Portland, north-east of Church Ope Cove. It was built in 1899 to carry a public footpath over a railway cutting of the new Easton and Church Hope Railway line. Following the line's closure in 1965, the bridge was demolished in 1971 as part of work to infill the cutting.
History
Yeolands Bridge was constructed as a result of the Easton and Church Hope Railway line which, having been authorised in 1884 and opened in 1900, extended the existing Weymouth & Portland line from Victoria Square to Easton. In order to bring the line inland to the village from the island's east side, a deep cutting was excavated by cutting and blasting through solid rock. As the new cutting interfered with a public footpath, which ran along the clifftop down towards Rufus Castle, Church Ope and Penn's Weare, a footbridge was built over the cutting.
Yeolands Bridge was constructed in 1899 by the contractor Samuel Froom of Westham. It was built of Portland stone with an arch barrel of brick. In April 1899, Froom's son was involved in an accident as the finishing touches were being made to the bridge. He was suspended over its edge when the stays of the crane holding him collapsed and he fell into the cutting below. A "bruised and helpless" Froom survived the fall but was "considerably hurt". He was taken to the Mermaid Inn to receive medical attention from Dr. Duncan Drummond and then to his home in Westham to recover.
Shortly after the bridge's completion, concerns were raised to Portland Urban District Council about the dangerous nature of the footpath and the lack of railings leading to and from the bridge. The Southern Times reported in August 1905: "The path is not much more than a yard from the cliff edge at the bridge, and there being absolutely no railings on the seaward side it will be admitted to be a dangerous spot. There is still a worse place just past the bridge where the path appears to continue for a few yards on the very edge of the cutting, then [reaches a] sheer [drop] on one side and a [deeper drop] on the other, and of a dark night or in a thick fog the path could easily be mistaken. For the expenditure of a few shillings on a bit of railing many lives might be saved." Railings on both sides of the bridge were subsequently added.
The Weymouth and Portland Railway, including the line to and from Easton, closed in 1965 and Kingston Minerals Ltd, one of the main divisions of Bath & Portland Group, purchased part of the route in 1971. In August of that year, they began infilling the cutting between the road bridge at the bottom of Wakeham and Yeolands Bridge to create an off-road link between their Broadcroft, Yeolands and Perryfield Quarries. Most of the infilling was initially carried out in the section of the cutting just east of the Wakeham bridge and this was later followed by work within the region of Yeolands Bridge.
After some preliminary demolition work, Yeolands Bridge was destroyed on 9 September 1971 using explosives laid by Arthur and Peter Wallis. Its destruction was met with public outcry and the company were quickly made to restore the public footpath. Their replacement bridge was a wooden structure with steel meshed railings, resting on two steam crane jibs. It was erected by Royal Engineers who were training on Portland at the time. By 1978, the infilling of the cutting was virtually complete and the replacement bridge was demolished sometime thereafter. The route today continues to be used by Portland Stone Firms Ltd.
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Free Portland News - articles and letters from issues 56 (June 1983), 114 (April 1988), 170 (December 1992) and 245 (March 1999) (many thanks to the Portland Heritage Study Centre)
2) Free Portland News - Portland 40 Years Ago - extracts from the late George Davey's diary - August 1971 and November 1976 - issues 394 (August 2011) and 457 (November 2016)
3) Geoff Kirby - Area around Church Ope Cove - website page
4) J. A. Story and Partners - aerial photography from July 1972 and June 1977
5) Ordnance Survey - various maps, including 1864, 1902, 1913, 1929 and 1975
6) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles - website page
7) YouTube - Unique film! The Last Train to Easton, Portland railway 1965 - Stuart Morris - 17 October 2018 - video
History
Yeolands Bridge was constructed as a result of the Easton and Church Hope Railway line which, having been authorised in 1884 and opened in 1900, extended the existing Weymouth & Portland line from Victoria Square to Easton. In order to bring the line inland to the village from the island's east side, a deep cutting was excavated by cutting and blasting through solid rock. As the new cutting interfered with a public footpath, which ran along the clifftop down towards Rufus Castle, Church Ope and Penn's Weare, a footbridge was built over the cutting.
Yeolands Bridge was constructed in 1899 by the contractor Samuel Froom of Westham. It was built of Portland stone with an arch barrel of brick. In April 1899, Froom's son was involved in an accident as the finishing touches were being made to the bridge. He was suspended over its edge when the stays of the crane holding him collapsed and he fell into the cutting below. A "bruised and helpless" Froom survived the fall but was "considerably hurt". He was taken to the Mermaid Inn to receive medical attention from Dr. Duncan Drummond and then to his home in Westham to recover.
Shortly after the bridge's completion, concerns were raised to Portland Urban District Council about the dangerous nature of the footpath and the lack of railings leading to and from the bridge. The Southern Times reported in August 1905: "The path is not much more than a yard from the cliff edge at the bridge, and there being absolutely no railings on the seaward side it will be admitted to be a dangerous spot. There is still a worse place just past the bridge where the path appears to continue for a few yards on the very edge of the cutting, then [reaches a] sheer [drop] on one side and a [deeper drop] on the other, and of a dark night or in a thick fog the path could easily be mistaken. For the expenditure of a few shillings on a bit of railing many lives might be saved." Railings on both sides of the bridge were subsequently added.
The Weymouth and Portland Railway, including the line to and from Easton, closed in 1965 and Kingston Minerals Ltd, one of the main divisions of Bath & Portland Group, purchased part of the route in 1971. In August of that year, they began infilling the cutting between the road bridge at the bottom of Wakeham and Yeolands Bridge to create an off-road link between their Broadcroft, Yeolands and Perryfield Quarries. Most of the infilling was initially carried out in the section of the cutting just east of the Wakeham bridge and this was later followed by work within the region of Yeolands Bridge.
After some preliminary demolition work, Yeolands Bridge was destroyed on 9 September 1971 using explosives laid by Arthur and Peter Wallis. Its destruction was met with public outcry and the company were quickly made to restore the public footpath. Their replacement bridge was a wooden structure with steel meshed railings, resting on two steam crane jibs. It was erected by Royal Engineers who were training on Portland at the time. By 1978, the infilling of the cutting was virtually complete and the replacement bridge was demolished sometime thereafter. The route today continues to be used by Portland Stone Firms Ltd.
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Free Portland News - articles and letters from issues 56 (June 1983), 114 (April 1988), 170 (December 1992) and 245 (March 1999) (many thanks to the Portland Heritage Study Centre)
2) Free Portland News - Portland 40 Years Ago - extracts from the late George Davey's diary - August 1971 and November 1976 - issues 394 (August 2011) and 457 (November 2016)
3) Geoff Kirby - Area around Church Ope Cove - website page
4) J. A. Story and Partners - aerial photography from July 1972 and June 1977
5) Ordnance Survey - various maps, including 1864, 1902, 1913, 1929 and 1975
6) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles - website page
7) YouTube - Unique film! The Last Train to Easton, Portland railway 1965 - Stuart Morris - 17 October 2018 - video
Gallery
These images can be enlarged by clicking on them. Some images have information attached to them, and to view this you can either enlarge the image or hover the mouse over each thumbnail.
Historical photographs
1902 OS map
An extract from an Ordnance Survey map of Portland, surveyed in 1901 and published in 1902. The bridge can be seen at the centre. (Reused from mapping available at maps.nls.uk under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
1903 OS map
Another extract from an Ordnance Survey map of Portland, surveyed in 1900-01 and published in 1903. This shows the wider area, with more of the railway cutting and the footpaths that used the bridge. (Reused from mapping available at maps.nls.uk under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).