Bridges over the river Hodder; The Collapse of the Old Suspension Bridge at Whitewell

The Old Suspension Bridge at Whitewell was constructed in the 1800s for the use of shooting and fishing parties staying at the Inn at Whitewell and was about 35 yards long with a wooden deck and railings which were supported by iron girders suspended from cables. It stood about 12ft above the water on a sweeping bend of the river Hodder and was supported on each side upon stone parapets which still remain, the one on the northern bank still being visible from the Inn to this day and occasionally used by local keepers and farmers in the summer as a diving post for cooling off in the river.

Collapsed

The Bridge, of which there still several of similar construction still crossing the Hodder, was known as ‘Springy bridge’ and collapsed one sunny Saturday in 1906 on the 30th of June at around 5pm when the balance of the bridge, which was never intended to carry much weight, was upset by a large number of tourists, numbering over 50, who were standing on the bridge at the time and suddenly moved from one side to the other.

Most of the crowd was composed of two parties of day trippers, one from Todmorden and one from Preston who were watching some of their party who were swimming in the river below the bridge.

The Group from Todmorden

Officials from the Todmorden Corporation took an annual trip to Whitewell every summer and this year, after having their photograph taken, most of the group moved onto the bridge to take in the scenery and watch 3 of their members who had instead taken to the clear waters of the Hodder for a swim.

The officials which happened to be on the bridge at the time when the bridge unexpectedly gave way, and which therefore ended up falling into the river, included Fred Rogers, the sanitary inspector for Todmorden, G W Jackman, who was an assistant surveyor, James Heap, the borough’s surveyor, James Whitehead, an educational clerk, and Thomas Woodhead, an attendance officer, amongst others.

Luckily most of this group fell into water of about 6 to 7 feet depth and were only slightly injured after a brief ducking in the cool waters, Mr James Heap, the surveyor, was thrown further than the others into a deeper part of the river and had to swim clear of the bridge, and lost his gold rimmed glasses in the process, but all of the group managed to make their way out relatively unscathed.

The Group from Preston

The group from Preston was made up of various employees from Horrocks, Crewdson and Co who had a Cotton Mills in Preston including Fishwick Mill who were on their annual trip to Whitewell too, all of them were thrown into the Hodder by the collapse of the bridge but some of the party managed to clamber along the wreckage to the river banks.

Dramatic rescue

Several people narrowly escaped serious injury or drowning, mostly out of sheer luck, the part of the river the bridge crossed did have deep pools in it of about 6 to 7 feet deep which prevented some of the group from hitting the rocky river bed, however the Hodder was low so other onlookers fell into very shallow water instead.

One tourist, a veterinary surgeon named Sam Cliffe, was standing at the end of the bridge near the north bank and when the bridge suddenly gave way he was catapulted into the air along with some picnickers from Colne and Nelson.

Mr Cliffe ended up on the river bed trapped under some coping stones from the parapet of the bridge and an iron girder, a number of the crowd managed to extricate him quickly though before he drowned and he was taken to the Inn to be checked over.

Luckily he only suffered severe bruising and a sprained ankle and after a nights recuperation he was allowed to leave for home, his were the worst injuries that anybody received in the bridge collapse but it was remarked upon that he was very lucky to escaped alive.

As can be expected all of the people who had been on the bridge when it suddenly crashed down to the river 12 ft below suffered from some degree of shock and many were taken to meet the 9:00 train at Longridge train station to be taken home. The next day the site of the incident became crowded with throngs of sightseers wanting to look at the scene of the calamity and inspect the wreckage of the bridge.

Crossing the river now

When you visit the Inn now the parapets of the bridge are still visible, with the one on the northern bank of the river being clearly visible from the Inn, you can even see where the coping stones that landed on mr Cliffe were dislodged from!

To cross the river now you have to go downstream from the Inn to the stepping stones, which can be quite treacherous themselves if the waters high but are usually fairly easy to cross, or upstream there is Burholme bridge, it’s a very pleasant bit of the Hodder to walk along which will take you past the site of the old suspension bridge and over Burholme bridge too. Of course the Inn at Whitewell itself, with its excellent menu and unique ambience makes a perfect starting point for exploring this part of the valley and its history.

A B-H