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Building of the Tinsley Viaduct


Sheffield History

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26240560_10156236024878754_3435147629117328829_o.jpg

Photo showing the construction of the Tinsley Viaduct near Meadowhall etc

Would this be at the end of the Parkway too?

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Actually, a well composed photograph of a difficult subject, and despite the enormous changes that the M1 Motorway was to bring to South Yorkshire, it does seem to have been a subject that was little recorded at the time. We do see occasional photographs portraying the construction of the Tinsley Viaduct, such as that above, probably, as this was the biggest single, notable feature of this 'new age'. However, we do see little of anything else.

So, I have added a couple more, showing the early construction phases of the M1 Motorway. The first two, where the M1 over-bridge now crosses Whitehill Lane, Catcliffe. The third one, where the M1 now crosses the River Rother, close by the Junction 33 - Parkway intersection. Taken by P. Downsby, in 1967, and who had the foresight and common-sense to actually record such mundane things for posterity.

I believe that the house portrayed in the second of these images is Thorn Bank House, Whitehill Lane, and that this was eventually demolished as construction progressed.

The Sheffield - Rotherham Link Road, or Sheffield Parkway as it is now called, was not completed until 1974, several years later.

PDR004-Thorn Bank House, Whitehill Lane, Catcliffe-M1 Motorway Construction-1967.jpg

PDR003-Thorn Bank House, Whitehill Lane, Catcliffe-M1 Motorway Construction-1967.jpg

PDR027-River Rother, Catcliffe-(Treeton Beyond)-M1 Motorway Construction-1967.jpg

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Screenshot 2020-04-06 at 14.13.55.jpg

Amazing aerial shot of the construction of the TInsley viaduct and the Meadowhall area. Even the Tinsley cooling towers. What more could you want from a photograph!

So much of this has now gone

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I worked at The Tinsley Rolling Mills Co. Ltd. throughout the entire period of its construction. Our billet yard was partly covered by it and many a "near miss" was had by our workers as bits of metal ( bolts in the main) tumbled onto the ground from a great height.

A small diesel loco pushed the large rectangular hollow sections along a track  to be lifted by a crane and then securely bolted to an earlier section. Whilst this was happening the structure dipped quite visibly under the weight. The whole thing was, sadly, a typically British "cheap" alternative to that originally planned and,after several failures of similar designs in other countries, the whole had to be... at great expense and inconvenience... strengthened ....and corrosion ( caused it was said by its hollow structure being used by workman as a quick alternative to a long walk to the loo) rectified.

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