A Grand Day Out in Chester: celebrating 100 years of the new Queens Park Suspension Bridge

This year we celebrate 100 years of one of the most significant landmarks in Chester. We have looked back through newspaper reports and records held at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies to relive the local anticipation and excitement that surrounded the opening of the new Queens Park suspension bridge.

There had been an older bridge in existence since 1852 and it was used as a private bridge that provided a connection between the Queens Park Estate and the city and avoided a longer route round via Handbridge. The decision was made to replace the structure with a new bridge and demolition of the old bridge began in August 1922.

On 18th April 1923, the new Queens Park suspension bridge was officially opened by the Mayor of Chester, the Sheriff and aldermen of the city. Crowds gathered along both banks of the river and the steamers on the river were crowded with people too. One of the headline articles of the Chester Chronicle on 21st April 1923 was ‘great crowd witness unusual event’ and the paper reported that ‘the scene on the bridge was one that made a great impression on all who witnessed it’.

All the City officials were present with the Mayor of Chester, Councillor SR Arthur Hall, presiding over the event. The Sheriff, Chief Constable, City Surveyor and aldermen of the city processed to the bridge from St John School dressed in their formal robes along with the official sword and mace bearers.

The Mayor gave a speech in which he thanked all the people who had contributed to the construction of the bridge. He thanked the City Engineer, Charles Greenwood, who had developed the design for the bridge. At Cheshire Archives we hold a fascinating photograph album belonging to the City Engineer showing improvements and developments in the city. It includes a number of photographs of the early construction of the bridge.

The firm of W H Brockelsby of Birkenhead held the contract for masonry and the groundwork foundations and a separate contractor, David Rowell & Co of London, was appointed to create the steelwork. After the tower foundations had been laid, the sections of steelwork were transported to the site and constructed in situ.

The design of the bridge had been previously reported in the Chester Chronicle on 14th April 1923 - it described the bridge as a ‘wire rope stiffened suspension bridge’. It revealed further statistics on the bridge - a total length of 277 feet (beating the old bridge by twelve feet) and a width of 12 feet (twice the width of the old bridge) and finally a load capacity of 160 tons. Further points of interest in the design were copper ball finials on the towers that were designed to weather to a light green colour over time.

The Mayor stated that the bridge had to have certain conditions of use and they are listed in the minutes of the City Improvement Committee on 13th April 1923 and show how things have changed over the last one hundred years:

• That no bicycles shall be ridden across the bridge
• That no barrows, handcarts, or other vehicles other than perambulators and bathchairs, shall be allowed on the bridge
• That no person shall run about, jump on the bridge, or use the bridge as a diving platform…. or use the bridge in such a manner as to cause unnecessary vibration.
• That no horses or cattle be allowed on the bridge

The Mayor drew attention in his speech to the heraldic shields fixed to the towers which were symbols of the early history of the city. The coats of arms depict the first seven Norman Earls of Chester along with the arms of the Palatinate of Chester. Cheshire Archives hold the original design drawings of the shields (ref: ZCR 715/1-10) and you may have read a recent blog by our Conservator where she talks about the process of conserving these drawings for future generations to enjoy.

The Sheriff gave a vote of thanks too and said that ‘he hoped it would be appreciated as one of the beauty spots of their wonderful old city of Chester' and ‘would be a credit and source of pride to the citizens of Chester.’

When the speeches had concluded, the Mayor moved forward and ‘formally removed the rope obstruction which crossed the bridge and released the union jack which fluttered from the tower above the ancient heraldic symbols’ and announced, ‘it is my pleasure and honour, and I do hereby declare the bridge open.’

The Mayor and company then walked across the bridge and retraced their steps. Then it was the turn of the public and ‘there was a tremendous rush on to the bridge when the barriers were finally removed and there was great competition as to who should be the first across.’ 

Finally we can leave you with some contemporary sound recordings taken from our Chester Talking Tour which recount the opening of the bridge and the competition to be first across the bridge: Queen's Park Bridge in Living Memory: A Talking Tour of Chester and Stream Queen's Park Bridge - the Grand Opening by Cheshire Archives & Local Studies 

Chester's Delightful River Dee!

Have you tried our Talking Tour of Chester? It’s a self-guided walking tour of interesting parts of the city, made from oral histories recorded around 40 years ago. It features local people’s memories of events like the famous Chester Regatta, and the opening of the landmark Queen’s Park suspension bridge - but Cheshire Archives and Local Studies holds a huge amount of material on all aspects of the River Dee, going back centuries.

Lost trades

People have made their living on the river, not only from boat hire that still runs today, but in lost trades such as traditional salmon fishing. These photographs from c.1900 and 1969 show the nets that used to be seen along the banks, and fishermen hauling in their catch.

There also used to be mills along the banks of the Dee, with some only demolished within living memory. This image from 1905 shows ‘The Dee Bridge, Castle and Mills’ and is taken from a photo album by Frank Simpson. He was an authority on the history of Chester and an amateur photographer whose work is held at Cheshire Record Office (not just his photography but also sketches, manuscripts and diaries of local events).

                            

Tragedy on the Dee

Going back even further, we know that people used to use the river for washing. This coroner’s inquest report from 1679 describes the sad death of Mary Alson, a spinster who was swept away and drowned whilst washing clothes in the Dee.

This is just one of countless tragedies from along the river, and the coroners’ reports we hold range from the recent past back to the Middle Ages.

A well-known tragedy was the Dee Bridge Disaster, an 1847 railway accident. Train carriages fell into the river through a new cast iron bridge, killing five people and injuring nine. Cheshire Record Office holds a collection of newspaper cuttings about the inquest, where renowned Victorian engineer Robert Stephenson, who designed the bridge, was accused of negligence.

Chester Regatta

On a happier note, the river has long been used for sport and entertainment, and Chester Regatta combines both. Established in 1733, it still takes place today, making it the oldest rowing regatta of its type in the world. We hold many images of the Regatta - some of which are featured on the searchable Cheshire Image Bank- and this print shows the Regatta in 1854. 

We also hold the archives of the Royal Chester Rowing Club, founded in 1838. A jewel in this collection is a scrapbook begun in 1933 (ZCR 419/3), full of club memorabilia like race programmes, results, press cuttings and photographs. This one is of rowers on the Dee during the Chester Regatta of 1938.


                                        

The Port of Chester

We may not give it much thought today, but Chester used to be a significant British port. We have some shipping and boat records covering several centuries, such as QDN 1/5, a register of vessels entering and leaving the port of Chester, 1740 – 1769. It shows information such as the vessel and masters’ names, the destinations, and nature of goods being transported. We can see from these pages that 15 tons of cheese were bound for Parkgate on The Friendship on 21st February 1743 (below left), and that The Duke William arrived from Lisbon with a cargo of wine on 4th May 1754 (below right).

River Management

For anyone interested in the river itself, we hold archives related to the management of the Dee, like those of The River Dee Committee. The Committee was established in 1837 and its main interest was in Acts of Parliament affecting the river and water supply. The collection includes letters, petitions, reports, a minute book, plans on the improvement of the river and volumes of soundings (measurements of the depth of water, which can be used to make maps of riverbeds and nautical charts). 

Bridges

No visit to Chester is complete without seeing the bridges over the River Dee, and hundreds of items about them are held at Cheshire Record Office: books, pamphlets, photographs, plans, prints and much more. These two images show the Queen’s Park Suspension Bridge that opened in 1923, and the old Queen’s Park Bridge, which it replaced.     

    

The big freeze!

Finally, did you know that the Dee has frozen over on occasion? This photograph of The Groves in Chester shows people ice skating and playing when the river froze during the winter of 1916-17. It happened again in 1963.

This is just a small snapshot of the wide range of material that Cheshire Archives and Local Studies holds about the River Dee. Why not try the Walking Tour, and if you’re inspired to come and see some original records, arrange your visit here!

The items listed above are available to view at Cheshire Record Office in Chester. Living Memory: A Talking Tour of Chester is available via the Echoes app – further details can be found here.

Living Memory: A 'Talking' Tour of Chester!

Living Memory: A Talking Tour of Chester is a historic walking tour by Cheshire Archives and Local Studies.

The tour was created using the Chester Archaeological Society’s collection of oral history recordings, which have been newly-digitised thanks to the British Library’s National Lottery Heritage project Unlocking Our Sound Heritage. 

It features interviews with a range of Chester residents, talking about their experience of the city over the course of the 20th century.  You will be able to hear the voices of these local residents as you explore some of Chester’s most scenic spots.  Find out how the park’s flower beds were put to use during the Great War, hear from an eyewitness to the unearthing of the amphitheatre, and even discover local residents’ favourite 1920s ice creams!

The tour is self-guided, so you can choose which sites you want to visit and in which order (our suggested route can be found below).

You can access the sound recordings below. As you walk along the suggested route you can listen to the appropriate clips by hitting the play button. 

  

You can download a copy of the walking tour map here.

Let's get started!

 

1. Cheshire Record Office

    

Welcome to Cheshire Archives & Local Studies where this converted warehouse holds miles of shelving full of records that document almost 1000 years of Cheshire life. Some of these records are oral histories recorded on cassettes, and tape cannot be trusted to survive for decades. Without the National Lottery Heritage Fund project run by British Library and the expertise at the north west hub at Archives+ in Manchester the voices on our talking tour would have been lost. In the early 1980s the Chester Archaeological Society recorded older residents’ recollections of life in the city throughout the twentieth century – we hope you enjoy a tour of the city through their eyes.
           

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Cheshire Record Office

 

2. Roman Amphitheatre

  

A schoolgirl, when Dee House was the Ursuline Convent School, is an eyewitness when the first trace of an amphitheatre is discovered in 1929 – but to discover more the sweet shop must be demolished.
 

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Roman Amphitheatre

  

3. Grosvenor Park

Flower beds are planted with beetroots during the war – the park-keeper’s son recalls the park was planted very differently when his father was in charge.

 

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Grosvenor Park

 

4. Grosvenor Park Lodge

The park-keeper’s family lived in the Lodge – what was it like inside?

   

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Grosvenor Lodge

 

5. Duke’s Monument

A little girl witnesses a zeppelin appear over the city in 1917 or 1918. But did she? We have not found any evidence that zeppelins carried out raids as far north as Chester, but this memory is so vivid we can only imagine the terror they inspired that perhaps a nightmare or an eyewitness account made this very real 80 years later.

 

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Duke's Monument

 

6. Belvedere

A view of the river – perfect vantage point to watch the regatta!

   

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Belvedere

 

7: Queen’s Park Suspension Bridge

Opened in 1923 – replacing a narrow private bridge that allowed businessmen from Queen’s Park to catch their trains!

 

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Queen's Park Bridge

 

 8: The Grand Opening 

Two women are determined to cross the new Queen’s Park Suspension Bridge before the Mayor on the day of its Grand Opening!

 

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Queen's Park Bridge - the Grand Opening

 

9: Bandstand

 

Promenade along the Groves and imagine the sounds and sights of the city illuminated.

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Bandstand

 

10: Ice Cream on the Dee

 

Fancy an ice cream? In this clip you can almost taste the ice cream from the 1920s – though we think ice cream today is probably closer to how it was in the 1920s than what was available in the early 1980s!

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies · Ice Cream On The Dee

 

 

 

Cheshire’s Only Island

Did anyone see a lovely little piece on Springwatch earlier this year where documentary cameraman James Bayliss-Smith took off to Hilbre Island as a homage to his grandfather who took many bird photographs there, especially of wading birds stopping off on their way to their breeding grounds?  It got me wondering what we might hold here in the Archives relating to “Cheshire’s only Island”.  A quick search of the catalogue actually reveals 155 items listed under “Hilbre”.

If you don’t know of Hilbre, it (and its two smaller companions Middle Eye – sometimes, confusingly, Little Hilbre - and Little Eye) is “an archipelago consisting of three islands at the mouth of the estuary of the River Dee, the border between England and Wales at this point.  The islands are administratively part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral." At low tide the islands can be reached on foot from West Kirby. An image from the Ordnance Survey 1st Edition 25 inch (Sheet XII-6) from 1871 shows Hilbre Island Telegraph Station and the ‘Submarine telegraph’ line to the mainland

1871 OS map

One of the earliest documents we hold that mentions Hilbre is  a copy (but an early one) of a seventeenth century Indenture (ref: EDD 13/5/1) 

EDD 13/5/1

There are also many Local Studies items.  These include a large range of articles in Cheshire Life, a full run of which is housed on open access in the searchroom.  Many of these are by Norman Ellison, who wrote A Naturalist’s Notebook in the magazine and was clearly a huge fan of Hilbre.  One of his pieces from Cheshire Life in April 1970 is an interesting article entitled “Storm over Hilbre” with an excellent and rather emotive image included.  Another book that interested me when I found it is Atgofion Ynyswr (roughly “Memoirs of an Islander”) by Lewis Jones, Hilbre gynt (formerly of Hilbre) published in Liverpool in Welsh, although there are some specific related pieces included in English (ref: 228560).  Mr Jones was the Telegraph Station Keeper on Hilbre (at the location on the map above) from 1888 until his retirement (back to Wales hence, I’m guessing, the language of the book) in 1923.  The book looks absolutely fascinating, but is rather lost on me due to its language of publication.  Thankfully I can see online that a Hugh Begley undertook a translation in 2003, although this has not, unfortunately, been published.  It is, however, available to consult at West Kirby Library.

Things then took a slightly unexpected turn when I found a fantastic book called Hilbre, The Cheshire Island: its history and natural history (ref: 016561) published in 1982.  This lovely 306pp volume is notable for a number of reasons.  Firstly, its cover and several internal illustrations were undertaken by a Guernsey born prize winning artist, Laurel Tucker who won many prizes and huge acclaim for her work, particularly with regard to her bird illustrations.  Very sadly she died in 1986, aged only 35.

In the same book, I then spotted a 17 page chapter entitled “A year on hilbre” which is written by an Ann Cleeves about her and her husband Tim’s first year on Hilbre (1977-78) where he was employed as the resident Warden.  In the list of Contributors printed on the dust jacket it states: “A. CLEEVES, wife of the Warden lived on Hilbre from 1977 to 1981, and holds a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work, University of Liverpool.”  This raised my eyebrows a little, and some judicious googling later revealed that this was indeed the well-known crime writer, best known for her Vera Stanhope and Shetland Island series of titles.  In several interviews Ann has alluded to this period, and indeed on her own biography she writes “Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing.”  However, to the best of my knowledge, Ann has not actively publicised this early work before.  As this actually appears to be her very first published work, it remains to be seen whether this now leads to a rush of collectors suddenly vying for what must be a somewhat limited number of copies.  Time will tell!

As always there appears to be something for everyone here at Cheshire Archives – from seventeenth century Indentures to the first tentative steps towards literary stardom.  All that is left (apart from the other 150-odd related items on the catalogue) is to actually visit the Islands themselves, something that a combination of the tide and the weather forecast has so far combined to stop me undertaking .  I shall have to remedy that.  Which brings me to my final, and very important, point to note if you are going to visit Hilbre – you really do need to plan your visit very carefully around the tide timetables.  An excellent guide with very precise instructions on when you can and cannot go, and on what route to take across the sands, can be found here http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/hilbre/plan.htm. The tide timetables themselves can be found in many places including on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/tide_tables/5/461#tide-details


(Addendum:  Since I wrote this, I’ve been doing some work on the population of Hilbre at census time which shows some fascinating glimpses into the history of the island in the second half of the nineteenth and first years of the twentieth centuries.  At times, it was home to a surprising number of people.  You’ll have to await a future blog to read about this in full.)