-

Open At Last 


Cox's Walk Footbridge has been reopened at long last!

Putting the final touches to the newly reopened bridge

The bridge closed with little warning at the end of 2019,  as a result of concerns about structural movements in the brick abutments at each end. The plans to rebuild were derailed when it emerged that two mature oak trees were to be felled to allow heavy machinery access to the site. A campaign to save the oaks delayed these plans, a court ruling found in favour of the protestors and a blanket tree preservation order was placed on the Wood. Southwark Highways went back to the drawing board to produce a plan which would have a much lower impact on the Wood and leave the oaks in situ. 

The result is the newly renovated bridge we see today. 

This is excellent news as it allows the Trust's members to work hard on repairing the severe damage nearly five years of trampling have done to the Wood in the vicinity of the bridge. Already, a new fence has been installed on the western side of the bridge as well as a dead hedge to cut off the temporary path on the eastern side. It is hoped that, over time, this ecologically sensitive part of the Wood will recover from thousands of people who, rather that use the diversion, preferred instead to slither and slide up and down the sides of the cutting. 

Just before laying the top surface.


Extra support on the heavily engineered bridge


Eastern end of the bridge, showing heavy foot erosion on the opposite side.

New dead hedge on the left to close off the path that had developed due to bridge closure

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
  Protecting our Wood The trees making up our woodland are a mixture of native species and garden survivors from Victorian development. Before the expansion of London, the Wood was used extensively to provide raw materials for ship-building on the Thames and timber for general building in domestic and agricultural use. As such, many species were coppiced to maintain a steady and reliable supply of wood. Species suitable for this type of woodland management include ash, hornbeam and hazel. When a tree is coppiced, its main trunk is cut down to the ground and soon new side shoots will emerge to grow upwards. Depending on the size and age of this growth, the shoots can be harvested for various uses such as canes, posts and palings. Coppicing can extend the life of the tree enormously and the resulting patchwork of light and dark increases biodiversity. Without coppicing, the woodland will grow old and degenerate, species diversity declines and ecological health suffers. Unfortunately,...
Read more
-
Image
Drains and More Steps   The drainage system on Crescent Wood Road has been causing big problems for the Wood. When there is heavy rain and especially during a thunder storm, polluted water overflows from the drain covers in the road and cascades into the Wood. This has caused damage to the newly improved section of path and steps near the tunnel mouth. It seems Thames Water thinks it has done everything it needs to do, however, the problem remains.  Consequently, the Wood's volunteers have started to put in place mitigation to help tackle this.  Slowly but surely, new steps are being added to the main path down from the Crescent Wood Road entrance. These should help where heavy footfall and water damage have eroded the path to make it uneven. The new steps use materials from the Wood such as branches as well as recycled material such as scaffolding and decking boards. The steps are backfilled with crushed concrete and then topped with li...
Read more
-
Image
Finding the Villas....Part 3 Fairwood Of all the villas along Sydenham Hill, Fairwood has left the best-known relic, the folly and its accompanying cascade. However , the re are other clues as to its existance. Just inside the fence along Sydenham Hill, there is a gate-post complete with ironwork, there are footings for greenhouses and, against the wall separating it from Beechgrove, there is lead flashing suggesting a hot house of some sort. There are also the remains of the main terrace and its cellars.     Remains of Fairwood.   Gate post for Fairwood's drive. Fairwood's cellar wall, in the background, a chute, perhaps for coal deliveries? Steps leading down from the terrace to the garden. The wall between Fairwood and Beechgrove. What was once a lean-to greenhouse, note remnants of a plaster coating and eyes in the brickwork for training vines.  O.S. maps show terraces in Fairwood's garden. The sudden change in level suggests this is one of them. Half way down f...
Read more