A Bridge with a Big Bang!

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The picture at the top left shows the Macclesfield Bridge, which crosses the Regent’s Canal in North London. On the early morning of the 2 October 1874 the bridge was destroyed in a massive explosion as a boat passed underneath. Because of that it is known as ‘Blow Up Bridge’. In addition to carrying coffee and nuts, there was five tons of gunpowder on the boat. Possibly one of the three crew struck a match and things went very, very bad from there, but we shall never know. The original bridge was supported by iron pillars and these survived the explosion pretty well unscathed and were used in the rebuilding. As mentioned in my last piece on myLot, the boats were pulled along by horses and the long tow cut grooves into the pillars. On rebuilding the pillars were turned and the old grooves were now on the towpath side with new grooves being cut on the canal side. As you can imagine, once it was known just how much hazardous material was transported through populated and posh parts of London, new laws were enacted a year later to restrict this explosive trade. Incidentally, the pillars were cast at Coalbrook Dale, where the world’s first iron bridge was cast.