As time moves on ...

A model of the bridge can be seen in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Picadilly, London amongst the architectural installations. The exhibition continues until 16th August 2009.

We are also pleased to announce that the bridge has been shortlisted for this year's Wood Awards. In the meantime here are some lovely photos taken by Edward Denison, copyright 2009. Enjoy!

The Piper and the Throng ...

Copyright Daisy Leyland, 2008


Copyright Daisy Leyland, 2008

On the 14th December 2008 we held a party in 'Celebration of a Bridge' when so many friends, believers, rogues, poachers and our kind clients congregated in the village hall. The champagne flowed, a short speech of welcome and thanks, followed by a wonderful walk up to the site to witness the clients being piped over the bridge by Rob Bell, much banter and cheer and then back to the hall for the hog roast. What a day and thank you to all who have participated, agonised, and supported this venture through its long history. You know who you are and I remain most grateful to you all.



I could never believe that I would be fortunate enough to work for a patron who could see the potential for a new and exciting bridge which would add something special to what is a most beautiful, classical garden. It has been an extraordinary experience from which we have all learnt a great deal. This would not have been possible without the challenges being set and often resolved by the consulting architect, William McMorran, who took it all in his large stride and deserves much of the credit. Thank you, thank you, thank you.










The photo above shows William McMorran of architects, McMorran & Gatehouse, Robert Myers of structural engineers, Price & Myers, and yours truly.

I would like to acknowledge the assistance and support of the following people who either worked on the bridge or helped make it happen: Hugo Saunders, Jonathan Wiltshire, Caroline Burn, Damian Fison, Alastair Fison, Tim Fison, John Barber, James Barber, Hugh Burn, Charlie Poulson, Stephen Mather and Stewart Graham, Roland and Hugo McMorran, Robin Le Mare, Andrew Joicey; the gardeners Neil, Nicholas, Kevin, Michael, Jimmy and Alan; those at Stuart Somerscales Ltd including Stuart, Alex, Dan, Andrew, David and Melvin: Brian Thompson, David Dobson; Peter Bennet and his team at DigitalSurvey; Tim Lucas and his team at Price & Myers; and of course William McMorran of McMorran & Gatehouse.

The Covers are Off

Jonny Wiltshire and I finished the bridge at the end of October in time for an impromptu celebration when the bubbly came out - and not for the last time!


















The Gardening team who helped so much to move this project along, thank you!

Clinker Cladding

The original design was to clad the bridge in a double skin - one on the inside and the other on the outside of the balustrade uprights. The choice of construction method was to follow that used on my steam-bent seats, clinker. The client was originally a little unsure of the double skin as it might make the bridge look too heavy and intrusive in the classic garden. I had already splayed out the uprights away from their previous vertical positions, either side of the centre. This gave the structure a much stronger sense of movement and growth - it looked and felt right. I wanted this characteristic to be more evident in the final design. I called on the immediate assistance of the client to agree with my lead on the matter and then we had to decide whether or not to have the clinker on the inside or the outside of the uprights. The inside it was to be!



I ordered up some hardboard and cut it into the same widths as the cladding boards. I was to use this as a template to show us where the cladding was likely to end. I wanted a dramatic sweep starting at 900mm and ending at 1400mm at the end of the bridge. This was to prove too difficult to achieve as we didn't quite have the length in the end uprights to achieve the effect. The weather was foul all summer so we were unable to take the tarpaulin down and have a good look at the sweep effect.

Completion of Decking

The decking proved to take longer than expected - a matter of getting my head around the compound angles required in order to make a snug fit for the decking when it butts up against the balustrade.



I started laying the decking from both ends so that I could be sure to bring the decking to a harmonious closure. The jig shown allowed me to estimate the necessary adjustments to the gap between the boards as we reached the end.

The Decking

Now the balustrades are in position it will be important to have some decking down before we attempt to attach the clinker cladding. Alastair's father, Tim Fison, kindly sanded down the top of the 5 beams and noggins. He painted the tops of the noggins whilst Alastair took the time to give the tops of the beams a coat of bitumen paint. The decking battens have been sanded and a coat of warm linseed oil applied.



The geometry of the bridge is complicated as the bridge is offset. This means that the design is basically a rectangular shape with a triangle added at each end/ It is these triangular parts of the puzzle which give us the most headaches when it comes to wanting to lay a flat, even deck. The two sidebeams are level and in the same plane at the centre. As the decking is going to follow the offset angle from one end of the bridge to the other we are not going to be able to maintain an even, horrizontal surface at the start on each end.



The sixth beam has always been lower than the other beams at the higher end of the bridge. This has meant that a strip of oak batten has to be added for 5m.



I have decided to have the decking come short of the interior cladding which will allow run-off to fall straight down through the bridge framework to the ground and stream below. It also means that there will be a gap between the two sets of clinker cladding, so allowing run-off to escape easily. But, the decking will be laid, full length, between the two outside beams at both ends. The decking is attached to each of the five beams with 2 countersunk and plugged stainless steel screws.

Installation of Balustrades

Each of the balustrades were cut to fit between the outer and inner beam, on site. The two beam faces had already been made as near vertical as possible when we cut and fitted the noggins. All we had to do was scribe the inner-beam face onto the toe of each noggin and cut off the surplus. Not as easy as it sounds as it always take two or more attempts to get it right.



The balustrades were each set with a lean towards the end of the bridge - at multiples of 5 degrees. So the middle balustrade was anchored at 90 degrees with the furthermost balustrade ending up at 125 degrees.



The heel and toe of the balustrade was then painted with bitumen by Alastair, as done on the noggins to minimise water penetration.



The balustrades were secured with stainless steel threaded rod from the outside beam through the foot of the balustrade and out through the other side of the inner beam. We also used stainless steel coach bolts to secure through the outer beam and into the leg of the balustrade. This gives a very strong hold.

The excellent team was ably assisted and inspired by Alastair & Tim Fison and Robin Le Mare.