Rotherham : Bailey Bridge (and the chaos of litter in Rotherham)

In my quest for ever more riveting content (and rivets sort of have a link here) I’ve been to a bridge in Rotherham. This isn’t the bridge I’m making reference to, but it’s good exercise as there’s another bridge behind this one (sort of visible in the photo) to get to it.

It’s this one. It’s a surviving Bailey Bridge and it’s particularly appropriate here, as Sir Donald Coleman Bailey was born in the town and was educated at Rotherham Grammar School. This one was used during the Second World War and was acquired from the army for £300, paid for by Rotherham Council and Rawmarsh UDC, opening in 1947.

As this board notes, the bridge is strong enough to hold a tank.

On a more unfortunate note, the litter problem in Rotherham is unlike anything else I’ve seen before as it seems to be nearly everywhere. These photos just happen to be either end of the bridge I went to visit, but it feels like this throughout the town.

A once beautiful riverbank.

There are tens of thousands of pieces of litter in a relatively small area, the council appears to have entirely lost control and this is repeated throughout the bits of the town that I’ve walked through (which is quite a lot for various reasons this weekend). This article refers to a different park nearby, but hopefully the next generation will be a little more caring towards the environment. Anyway, it’s a nice bridge and as part of the development of Forge Island in the town they’ve commissioned a new Bailey bridge which is now in position. That’s the end of my posting about bridges in Rotherham I think unless I happen across another interesting one.