Arley Station Bridge
Arley Station Bridge (Bridge 17) is a stone arch road overbridge situated at the south end of Arley station, immediately south of the platform ends and barrow crossing. As the public may not use the barrow crossing for safety reasons, the bridge forms part of the route used by passengers to transfer between the down platform and up platform where the main station building is situated.
After crossing the railway via the bridge, the road continues downhill past the Harbour Inn and ends on the west bank of the River Severn where there is a small public car park (the car park at the station is not for public use). It originally led to the foot ferry which ended use on 22 January 1972, having been superseded by the footbridge which had been built at a cost of £43,500.[1]
The Station bridge dates from the construction of the railway in the early 1860s. It is one of a number on the Severn Valley branch on which the GWR carried out structural repairs during 1915. A small plaque dated 8/7/15 is visible on the left-hand pier when travelling towards Bridgnorth; a similar plaque may be seen on the Accommodation bridge off Northwood Lane.
Date plaque
Arley Station Bridge is included in the Wyre Forest District Council Local Heritage List, which lists it as "SVR044*: SVR Bridge 17: Stone overbridge 1861; brick arch; benchmark; repaired 1915."
Bench mark on bridge
With a great number of Film and TV productions filmed at Arley, the bridge has inevitably been seen in many of them. Two particularly notable appearances are:
- The car chase in Candleshoe, where the pursuing Rolls Royce stops on the bridge as the train departs. The car then sets off again in pursuit.
The train leaves 'Hambleden', seen from the station bridge
The car sets off in pursuit
- A short scene in The Thirty Nine Steps (later re-used in The Elephant Man) with LMS Ivatt Class 2 46443 (in MR livery as No 644) passing under the bridge at speed.
46443 emerging from Arley station bridge
See also[edit | edit source]
Towards Kidderminster
List of infrastructure
Towards Bridgnorth