Work has started to remove a walkway over the River Eden in Carlisle.

The metal walkway is shrouded in plastic wrapping

Shrouded in plastic wrapping, the link between the rear of the Sheepmount and the Etterby Road area of Carlisle has now been closed to walkers.

Two railway bridges cross the River Eden at this point about 1.5miles from Carlisle station.

The walkway runs alongside the railway bridge on the upstream side of the older of the two bridges.

Notices placed nearby indicate that work started on the 22 January 2011 and is expected to take about one month.

Eden viaduct walkway removal

Temporary electric lighting has been installed at the edge of the railway bridge overlooking the walkway to enable work to be carried out at night for safety reasons.

Some of the metal work can be seen above the stone pillars

Portable generator lighting units and welfare cabins can also be found nearby.

With the closure to walkers of the nearby Waverley Bridge this walkway was often used unofficially by locals wishing to avoid the long detour via Eden Bridge a mile upstream.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “The walkway is a redundant structure and in very poor condition, with heavy corrosion to metallic elements”.

He added: “The walkway is used by trespassers and vandals to cross the bridge and commit railway crime.  It has been identified by British Transport Police as one of the hotspots in the Carlisle area with incidents of train windscreens being “stoned” and smashed.”

It is believed that the walkway was officially closed many years ago.

New bridge for Carlisle

Carlisle City Council and Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, have been working on a number of projects for many years to try and get a new footbridge over the River Eden south of the main Eden Bridge at Stanwix.

The latest scheme, part of the Connect2 project operated by Sustrans, hoped to create a network of paths and cycleways between the Currock area of the city and Kingmoor to the north.

According to The Cumberland News, plans for the new bridge were shelved due to rising costs, estimated to be about £5m.

Your comments

Can you add to the history of the soon to disappear footbridge?  When was it installed, did you ever use it, are you sad to see it go?  Let us know in the comments area below.

Gallery

Opened in the Summer of 2001 the subway linking the grounds of Carlisle Castle with the Tullie House side of Castle Way in Carlisle is filled with items from an industrial past.

Attached to a 40 meter long and 3m  high steel wall running along one side of the underpass are steel and metal objects that relate to the industry and people of Carlisle and its surrounding areas .

The work, by Russell Coleman, was commissioned by Carlisle City Council in conjunction with the Millennium Commission.

Each of the items has a number nearby. Download a copy of a list of the items and see how many of them you identified.

The underpass also contains a clock and the Cursing Stone.

Since the installation of the ‘Cursing Stone’ in Carlisle it has become the focus for many things going wrong or for events of biblical magnitude in the local area.

Installed as part of the Millennium Gallery underneath Castle Way, the granite art work has been blamed for the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease, the Carlisle floods and many other local tragedies.

Cursing Stone in Carlisle

The artwork  was made by Andy Altman and  designed by artist Gordon Young.

It sits at the end of an 80 metre path which bears the names of all the Reiver families.

Gordon was born in Carlisle and is from an ancient Reiver family.

It features just over 300 words from a 1,069 word curse which dates back to the 16th Century,  a curse made against robbers, blackmailers and highwaymen who blighted the area 500 years ago.

This text comes from what is said to be one of the worlds longest curses.

The curse was first invoked by the Archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Dunbar, in 1525 against cross border families, known as the “reivers”, who lived by stealing cattle, rape and pillage.

It is known as the ‘Monition of Cursing’.

Priests in all of the parishes of the border lands were required to read out the curse.

During 2005 Carlisle City Council discussed the removal of the stone to outside the City boundary or even to destroy it.

It is not clear how much the stone weighs as reports vary from between 7-tons and 14-tonnes.

Further information

An ancient Proclamation dating back to 1352 will mark the end of a restoration project on the Market Cross in the centre of Carlisle.

Carlisle Cross

The Proclamation is a declaration of the City Council’s rights to hold an annual Fair in August, originally granted to the citizens of Carlisle in 1352 by Edward III.

The six week programme aimed to bring the city centre’s historic monument back to life was done by Carlisle City Council, with specialist help from heritage architectural firm St Astier and English Heritage.

Technically the monument is an Ionic column on a square base set upon five circular steps.

Bonnie Prince Charlie proclaimed his father King in this area in 1745.

The acknowledged end to the Cumbria Way is the Market Cross in front of the Old Town Hall in Carlisle.

The Market Cross is made up of a series of pieces of stone all held together using cast-iron dowels and pegs. These have corroded over time, causing the stone to expand and crack.

They have been replaced with stainless steel pins, new steps have been carved and the old worn ones replaced and the Lion, an important element of the stone work, has been extensively repaired.

Leader of Carlisle City Council, Cllr. Mike Mitchelson, said:

“The restoration programme is a skilled and time consuming job, which has all been possible as a result of careful preparation and the use of our, and partners, skilled professionals. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved and hope the Market Cross continues to play a major part in the day to day comings and goings in the city centre.”

Brass plaque at the bottom of the market cross, Carlisle

New plaque installed

At the base of the monument a new brass coloured plaque has been installed with the City crest in bright red and green at the top.

It reads:

“Carlisle Cross, Market Cross, or Carel Cross was erected in 1682 on the site of an older cross.

The lion on top has one of it’s paws on the dormant book of the city. Below are four sundials.”

An inscription on the North Face  reads “Joseph Reed, Mayor, 1682”

Carlisle Cross

Carlisle held its first official fair, Carel Fair, in 1353

It is said that the lion, holding  a copy of the City’s Charter, at the top of the monument faces Scotland but snarls defiantly to the west.

Market Cross Pub

On the other side of the Atlantic, in Carlisle Pennsylvania, is a pub with close links to the scheduled monument called the Market Cross Pub.

This communal gathering place was started in 1994 and features it’s own brewery.

Other websites of interest

Old Cumbria Gazetteer – features prints of how the market cross looked in years gone by.

English Heritage – Information about the cross

Visitors to  Carlisle Cathedral can learn more about this twelfth century building and it’s history thanks to new interpretation panels and a scale model.

Interpretation panel outside the Fratry

Funded in part by The North West Development Agency, the five panels and 1:16th  scale model of the Cathedral help chart the history of the second smallest cathedral in the country.

Some of the panels are mounted on columns set into stone from nearby Lazonby.  These are set at a wheelchair user and child friendly height.

A bronze model, mounted on a stone plinth depicts the site as it would have looked in 1540.

Carlisle City Council Planning Application -

Gallery

Walked and driven past thousands of times a day, the significance of these municipal gardens is largely unknown to the City’s inhabitants.

Situated on the north bank of the River Eden just off Eden Bridge is Eden Bridge Gardens, designed by the internationally renowned landscape architects Thomas H Mawson & Sons.

Eden Bridge (Italian) Gardens, Carlisle

For some peculiar reason, these gardens have been known locally for many years as the “Chinese Gardens”. However, there is nothing Chinese in the design and anybody knowledgeable in the works of Thomas Mawson, knows that he was famed for his grand Italianate designs, still existing at many stately homes including Rydal Hall in Cumbria.

Built using unemployed labour in the depression of the 1930′s, under the supervision of the City Engineer, Percy Dalton, these gardens costs just over £3,000, the cost being kept down by the use of reclaimed materials. The white cove stone used to make the rest houses was taken from the old Eden Bridge parapets that were demolished during the bridge widening operations of 1930 to 1932. The sandstone used to build the retaining walls was taken from the old gaol in English Street and the crazy paving paths that run throughout the garden was taken from the old road, which used to pass over Eden Bridge.  All of this, long before the word “recycling” was even heard of.

Opened in 1933 by City Mayor, Councillor E.B Gray, the design featured the classic Mawson pergolas

Eden Bridge Gardens Opening Plaque 1933

and raised terraces overlooking lily ponds. Crazy paving and a simple rock garden completes the setting.  Most of the design work is likely to be attributed to Thomas Mawsons’ son Edward as Thomas was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and indeed died in November 1933.  This was possibly one of the last designs that Thomas Mawson may have contributed to.

Sadly these gardens are in disrepair, but a grant of £50,000 has recently been awarded by The Heritage Lottery Fund to help the City Council with restoration. Work will start in October 2008 by Carlisle City Council employees.

The scheme will see vital repairs, made to the rose pergolas and Lily ponds. The rock garden will be cut back and invasive species and weeds removed and the surrounding trees cut back to allow more light into the garden and create site lines through to the main Rose pergola. The steps, which connect the two raised terraces, are to be relaid and the crazy paving paths repointed. The work is expected to take six months to complete.

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