Historic building recording of the Footbridge at St Erth Railway Station, 2021
Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1090385. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 4242
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1090385
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises images. Cornwall Archaeological unit was commissioned by Ewan Dommett of John Sisk and Son Ltd on behalf of Network Rail to carry out a historic building record of a railway footbridge at St Erth Station, in advance of its removal and relocation. St Erth Station is located approximately 5km to the south-east of St Ives and 1km north-west of St Erth village just to the south of Rose-an-Grouse.
The whole of the railway station complex is Grade II Listed, which includes the existing late 19th century footbridge giving access over the tracks at the west end of the station. The footbridge is located at NGR SW 54140 35710. Condition 3 of the Listed Building Consent (Planning Application No: PA20/01458) required a programme of archaeological work to be undertaken involving a historic building record equivalent to a Historic England level 3 building survey. St Erth station opened on 11th March 1852 as part of the West Cornwall Railway and was at that time named St Ives Road. It became the junction for the St Ives Branch in 1877 (which was the last broad-gauge railway to be built) and was then renamed St Erth. The footbridge was constructed in c1894 when the platform layout was altered and a level crossing at the west end of the station was replaced by the present footbridge. The bridge is U-shaped in plan with dog-legged stairs leading down onto both platforms (1 and 2). It is a wrought iron flanged plate girder bridge with a horizontal span over the mainline tracks. The upper halves of the sides are open and both the span and stairs are covered with a corrugated metal, canopy roof covering.
The bridge has remained essentially as it was first built in c1894 although a few elements have been replaced in recent years such as the corrugated roof covering with its decorative timber vanlences and many of the timber stair boards and bridge deck boards. There is also evidence for both historic and modern patch repairs to some of the ironwork.
