Maps
1836: When the Great Western Railway wished to
cross the Thames at Maidenhead Mr. Brunel was inclined to
have two arches to bridge the left bank channel.
The Thames Commissioners however foresaw a small snag.
Two arches would probably mean that tow ropes would have to be let go
above the bridge and re-attached below.
They pleaded with the railway, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel
kindly said he would do, what no one else had ever dared to do, he would
design the flatest widest single arch ever seen. And so he did.
1837: The Railway Magazine -
The bridge over the Thames at Maidenhead ... is to be of two arches, and constructed of brick. The abutments are all raised above the water line, the centerings of both arches nearly fixed, and several courses of brick-work laid on the western arch. The land arches on both sides are turned, and the brick-work generally is in a forward state. The plank walls are also carried up to receive the embankment, which already reaches it on the eastern side, and in a few days will be quite finished.
The first stage of the railway opened from Paddington to a temporary terminus at Maidenhead
Riverside, near the Bath Road at Taplow, as the bridge over the Thames was not complete.
Many of the engines were delivered from Newcastle to Maidenhead by water, and
then taken to Taplow. The terminus was built of wood, with platforms up on the embankment
and offices down near the road, and access also possible from the road bridge.
The first train ran on 31st May 1838.
Brunel's design for Maidenhead railway Bridge (cost £37,000) -
Brunel's design for Maidenhead railway Bridge
1840: Maidenhead Railway Bridge by Dolby, in the Eton Book of the River(1935) -
Maidenhead Railway Bridge, Dolby, 1840
1844: J M W Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed –
J M W Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed, 1844
On the left of Turner's picture is Maidenhead Road Bridge with a boat
on the river and to the right of that and just above three (four?) white marks
that I would take to be the oarsmen of a four just on the hard outside
Maidenhead Rowing Club. The broad gauge of the railway for which the bridge was
designed is evident.
However, if you have GOOGLE EARTH, try positioning the view to show that picture - and it cannot
be done! The rail bridge in the picture is almost at right angles to the road bridge. I
have tried all the other rail bridges on the Thames to see if any of them would fit better -
but no. So we are left with Turner's imagination working overtime - which is perhaps no
great surprise.
1847: Lipscomb’s Buckinghamshire –
That this beautiful outline is wholly formed of insignificant little bricks, each course of which on this enormous span has not only to carry its own weight, but its proportion of the road and the train. When he considers the strains to which these materials are exposed, and remembers that they are subject to a pressure that must approach very nearly to the limit of cohesion, he will sufficiently appreciate the courage and the capacity which have approached so near to the verge of possibility without transgressing its bounds.
A Rowing Race at Maidenhead Railway and Road Bridges, Postcard
1881: Leslie –
On the evening of Regatta day at Maidenhead
I remember having just sat down to supper with Mr. Storey,
who was staying with me at Mrs. Copeland's,
when we were alarmed by hearing shrieks and cries for help; we ran out;
it was getting very dark, and about nine o'clock,
and according to my maxims no boat ought to have been moving on the water.
It appeared that some towns-people from Maidenhead were out on the water
in a good-sized boat; there were nine persons altogether,
amongst whom was a little girl, a stranger to the rest of the party,
who had been take aboard from the bank, and they had just turned to the shore
for the purpose of landing her, when their boat was struck amidships by an Eton eight,
which was returning home at a great rate after a long day's row with its coach.
The eight made a large hole in the other boat, which rapidly filled;
some of the people in it tried to climb into the outrigger,
and in the end the eighteen persons were all immersed.
We heard the screams from our cottage; the Eton boys soon swam ashore,
and were hurried off to Skindles by their master, and taken safely home in a carriage;
one of them had saved two lives before he left the river bank.
The night was very dark, and no one seemed to know who was missing.
Six of the persons in the heavy boat were saved by different means,
but the poor little girl was drowned, and a sailor who hired the boat,
after saving one life, was found the next morning drowned,
with a dead woman clinging round his neck.
There was a curious reason given at the coroner's inquest for not allowing
any recompense to the boatman who had let the boat, for the damage done,
and it was that as the sailor who hired it was a well-known bad character in the town,
the boatman should have known better than to let a boat to him.
Now as to the sailor's character one thing is certain, his end was heroic,
and proved that the reputations held by us in this world may sometimes be far
from the right ones.
Underneath the railway-bridge, if you get near one side of the long elliptical arch,
there is a very remarkable echo, every sound being repeated a great many times,
so that if you shout a single "ha", the echo replies with a wild peal of laughter,
"ha-ha-ha-ha", &c., dying away fainter and fainter.
As the fatal accident above narrated took place just above this bridge,
and the bodies were found just below,
the sounds beneath this arch that night must have been awful indeed.
1883: Maidenhead Railway Bridge, Henry Taunt -
Maidenhead Railway Bridge, Henry Taunt, 1883
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT4001
1890: Maidenhead Railway Bridge, Francis Frith -
1890: Maidenhead Railway Bridge, Francis Frith
1892: Bridge doubled in width.
1899: "Thames Valley Villages" by Harper -
Maidenhead Railway Bridge astonishes me infinitely more than the great bridge across the Forth.
or any other engineering feats. Yet sixty years have passed and the bridge not only stands
as firmly as ever, but nowadays sustains the weight of trains and engines
more than twice as heavy as those originally in vogue.
Moreover in the doubling of the line, found necessary in 1892, the confidence of the company
was shown by their building an exact replica of Brunel's existing bridge,
side by side with it.
Yet the original contractor had been so alarmed that he earnestly begged Brunel to allow
him to relinquish the contract, and although the engineer proved to him, scientifically,
that it must stand, he went in fear that when the wooden centring was removed
the arches would collapse.
A great storm actually blew down the centring before it was proposed to remove it,
but the bridge stood, and has stood ever since, quite safely.
1929: A Thames Survey -
Maidenhead Viaduct carries the Great Western main line: its very striking and powerful design
deserves special mention as it contrasts so favourably with the many modern railway bridges
that disfigure the Thames Valley. It was designed by the great railway engineer Brunel,
and built in 1837-8, with a total length, of 778 feet, originally 30 feet wide but in 1891
increased to 60 feet. It is built of brick with two enormous arches.
The original cost was £37,000.
The two other viaducts by Brunel are those at Moulsford and
Gatehampton.
1975: Plaque –
Maidenhead Railway Bridge Plaque, 1975
Maidenhead Railway Bridge in 1999
Maidenhead Railway Bridge, Doug Myers © 2005
2006: Brunel Bi-centenary 68p Stamp -
68p Uk stamp, Brunel 1806 - 2006, Maidenhead Bridge
1846: The stamp design is taken from this Lithograph –
Maidenhead Railway Bridge, 1846
[ In the 1846 version there appear to be aircraft trails in the sky. This did not worry them
in 1846, but in 2006 they had to be toned down otherwise there would have been cries
of "anachronism!" ]
1999: To the east of Maidenhead Railway Bridge is a new railway bridge
over the Jubilee River (flood relief channel) -
Maidenhead Jubilee River Railway Bridge Plaque 1999
Maidenhead Railway Bridge is a Grade II* listed bridge.
As part of the Great Western Railway the United Nations has placed the bridge in the
UK list for designation as a World Heritage Site.
The bridge is in the Taplow Riverside Conservation Area.
Panoramic view of Maidenhead Railway Bridge
Map: Bucks Ait or Guards Club Island centre of railway bridge and upstream
Footbridge, right bank to island
The Channel is over the other side on the left bank
1880: Bucks Ait Footbridge and Eel Bucks seen from Railway Bridge,
Maidenhead Road Bridge in background, Henry Taunt -
Bucks Ait Footbridge and Eel Bucks, Henry Taunt, 1880
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT3119
Maidenhead right bank footbridge to Bucks Ait seen from upstream, Maidenhead Railway Bridge in background
(Closed during nesting season)
Guards Club Park was created by Maidenhead Civic Society to commemorate the Silver Jubilee in 1977
and has been maintained by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead since 1980.
Originally, the Brigade of Guards Club provided recreation for the officers who were stationed at Windsor and Pirbright.
A large club house contained a ballroom and in its Victorian heyday, the Guards Club ball attracted debutantes and royalty.
Outside there was a swimming pool. croquet lawn and on the island a boathouse.
The unique ornate footbridge, built around 1865, led to the club boathouse on the island.
The bridge was rescued by the Maidenhead Civic Society in 1976 and was last renovated in 1997.
There is little remaining of the boathouse but the spire now covers the shelter in the park.
...
Through its work on the island, the Royal Borough is helping to enhance the nature conservation value along the River Thames.
The island is home to varied wildlife providing nesting sites for swans, moorhen and coot.
Guards Club Island as illustrated on the notice near the footbridge
Map: Maidenhead Rowing Club
Left bank, webcam -
The Thames Riviera Hotel - Blue River Café
Just below Maidenhead Bridge (A4) on right bank (Maidenhead, west side) with some moorings.
Upstream to Maidenhead Bridge
Estuary
PLA
QEII Br
Barrier
Tower Br
Custom Ho
London Br
; Frost Fairs
Cannon St Rb
The Great Stink
Southwark Br
Millenium Br
Blackfriars Rb
Blackfriars Br
Waterloo Br
Charing Cross Rb
Westminster Br
Lambeth Br
Vauxhall Br
Victoria Rb
Chelsea Br
Albert Br
Battersea Br
Battersea Rb
Wandsworth Br
Fulham Rb
Putney Br
Hammersmith Br
Barnes Rb
Chiswick Br
Kew Rb
Kew Br
RICHMOND
Twickenham Br
Richmond Rb
Richmond Br
TEDDINGTON
Kingston Rb
Kingston Br
Ditton Slip
Hampton Br
MOLESEY
SUNBURY
Walton Br
Desborough Cut
SHEPPERTON
Chertsey Br
CHERTSEY
M3 Br
Laleham Slip
PENTON HOOK
Staines Rb
Staines Br
Runnymede Br
BELL WEIR
Magna Carta Is
OLD WINDSOR
Albert Br
Datchet
Victoria Br
Black Potts Rb
ROMNEY
Eton
Windsor Br
Windsor Rb
Windsor Slip
Elizabeth Br
BOVENEY
Dorney Lake
York Cut
Summerleaze Fb
MonkeyIsland
New Thames Br
BRAY
Bray Slip
Maidenhead Rb
Maidenhead Br
Below Boulters
BOULTERS
Cliveden
Hedsor
COOKHAM
Cookham Slip
Cookham Br
BourneEnd RFb
Quarry Woods
A404 Br
MARLOW
Marlow Br
Bisham
TEMPLE
HURLEY
Medmenham
Culham Ct
Aston Slip
HAMBLEDEN
Temple Is
Fawley Ct
Remenham
Regatta
Phyllis Ct
Henley Slip
Leander
Red Lion
Henley Br
Angel on Br
Landing
Hobbs Boatyard
Hobbs Slipway
MARSH
Hennerton
Bolney
Wargrave
Shiplake Rb
R.Loddon
SHIPLAKE
Sonning Br
SONNING
Dreadnought
K&A Canal
CAVERSHAM
Reading Br
Caversham Br
Reading Slip
Purley
MAPLEDURHAM
Hardwick Ho
Whitchurch Br
WHITCHURCH
Hartswood Reach
Gatehampton Rb
Goring Gap
Goring Br
GORING
Swan
CLEEVE
Moulsford
Moulsford Rb
Papist Way Slip
Winterbrook Br
Wallingford Br
BENSON
Shillingford Br
R.Thame
DAYS
Burcot
Clifton Hampden
Clifton Church
Clifton H Br
Barley Mow
Long Wittenham
CLIFTON
Appleford Rb
Sutton Courtenay
Sutton Br
CULHAM
Culham Cut Fb
Abingdon Slip
Abingdon
Abingdon Br
ABINGDON
Nuneham Rb
Nuneham
Nuneham Park
Radley Boats
SANDFORD
Rose Island
Kennington Rb
Isis Br
Iffley Mill
IFFLEY
Oxford Rowing
Isis
Donnington Br
Riverside Slip
Boathouses
Punting
Lower Cherwell
Upper Cherwell
Islip
Head of River
Salters Steamers
Folly Br
Bacons Folly
Oxford Fb
Osney Fb
Weir stream
Osney Rb
Bullstake Stream
Osney Marina
OSNEY
Osney Br
Four Rivers
OLD RIVER
CANAL
Medley Weir Site
Medley Fb
Bossoms
Perch
Trout
GODSTOW
Godstow Nunnery
Godstow Br
Thames Br
KINGS
River Evenlode
EYNSHAM
Swinford Br
Oxford Cruisers
PINKHILL
Farmoor
Stanton Harcourt
Bablock Slip
Arks Weir Site
NORTHMOOR
Harts Fb
//Rose Revived
Newbridge
//Maybush
River Windrush
below Shifford
SHIFFORD
Shifford Fb
Tenfoot Fb
Trout Inn
Tadpole Br
RUSHEY
Old Mans Fb
RADCOT
Radcot Cradle Fb
Swan Inn
Radcot New Br
Radcot Old Br
GRAFTON
Eaton Hastings
Kelmscott
Eaton Fb
BUSCOT
Bloomers Hole Fb
Trout Inn
St Johns Br
ST JOHNS
Halfpenny Br
Marina Slip
LIMIT
Inglesham
Hannington Br
Kempsford
Castle Eaton Br
Marston Meysey
A419 Br
Cricklade
SOURCE?
THAMES HEAD
SEVEN SPRINGS