Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/199

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is more striking from the singularity of the scenery accompanying it. The whole sructure is of cast iron, and consists ot a platform of top plates, pro- jecting over the ribs on each side, on which rrojec- tion stands the balustrade. This is supported by ribs, each consisting of two pieces connected by a dove-tail joint in an iron key, and fastened with screws; each screw being seventy feet long. All these rest against two upright iron pillars, rising from stone abutments. The whole is connected together, and rendered immovably firm, by cross- stays, braces, and brackets; forming a strueaire beautifully light and simple. The road over the bridge, made of clay and iron slag, is twenty-four feet wide; the span of the arch one hundred feet, and six inches; and the height, from the base 1 ne to the centre, forty feet. The weight of iron em- ployed for the purpose was three hundred and seventy-eight tons, and ten hundred weight, which having been cast into the proper 'pieces in open sand upon the spot, the whole was put up in three months, without any accident to the fabric or the men employed; or the least interruption to the na- vigation of the river. An inscr ption on the iaiyest exter.or rib, commemorates the year of it.. erec ! on. " This bridge was cast at Coaibrooke, and ereaad ic in the year 1779." The great works at the Dale

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