Eleventh hour plea for Manchester's historic bridges

Linked visually and historically to the Grade II-listed Victoria Station and Chetham’s School of Music’s Palatine buildings, which were built to provide a hotel and offices for the Manchester and Leeds Railway, the bridges illustrate the development of Manchester’s transport infrastructure. Concerned that the removal of the northernmost 1900 bridge would be harmful to the group and the character of the area, the Victorian Society has asked Manchester City Council to extend the Cathedral Conservation Area to include the bridges. It has also applied to English Heritage to have the bridges considered for statutory listing.

‘It’s vital that the significance of the Victoria Street bridges is recognised,’ said Alex Baldwin, Conservation Adviser of the Victorian Society. ‘Together with the station and the Palatine buildings, the bridges record the development of Manchester’s railway system. The station is listed and the Palatine buildings are included in a Conservation Area but there is nothing to mark the bridges out as significant and nothing to stop them being ripped down. This must be put right before it’s too late.’