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Cadishead Bridge
(1873 - 1893)

In 1885, an Act of Parliament was passed authorising the construction of the 'Manchester Ship Canal' a canal capable of taking the largest ocean going ships right into Manchester. To achieve this fixed bridges had to give 75ft of clearance. Many railways crossed the proposed route of the canal and all but one were nowhere near the required height including the CLC line at Cadishead. To solve the problem deviations had to be built at the Manchester Ship Canal Companies expense that would lift the railways to the required elevation

On either side of the span two archways connected the bridge to the substantial embankment that had been built up to carry the railway to the bridge at the required height. The Cadishead bridge was built during 1892 and opened to freight traffic in February 1893 and to passenger services on May 29 1893. After May 29 the original line closed as a through route and its earlier bridge over the River Mersey was demolished so that the canal could be dug

in 1964 the line lost its local passenger services and in 1966 main line passenger services ceased to use it and formal closure of the line running over Cadishead bridge came on September 4 1983

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