Construction of the Bridge

Stephen Mather securing End-plates to concrete foundations

On Tuesday 11th September, Stephen Mather secured the steel end-plates in position and with the help of Tim & Damian Fison and Charlie Poulsen we were able to swing the centre beam into position and secure it. The garden staff helped to move a workshop table and lathe to the site. A gazebo was erected as a temporary workshop and a generator was hired.


Charlie Poulsen & Tim Fison

At 08.00 on Wednesday 12th, the gardening staff, Neil, Nick, Kevin, Michael, Jimmyand Pavlov assisted Charlie and I to place four more beams in place. Charlie and I secured them and placed the necessary sacrificial chocks (spacers) and placed cargo straps to pull the bridge together. It was noticeable that the beams were going to tell the same story as found at Brackenside - namely that the bridge was not level throughout its length.

At 08,00 on Thursday 13th, the garden staff assisted Charlie and I to place the last two outer beams. They were secured and strapped into place. We started to construct a shelter over the site.




James Barber keeping his eye on the job
Contact was made with the consulting architect and engineer. Tim Lucas of Price & Myers is to visit the site on Wednesday 26th September. The left hand end has a distortion of 185mm whilst the right hand side has a distortion of 55mm.



On Friday 14th Charlie and I finished construction of a moveable cover over the bridge.