Bridges north of Meaford Locks, Staffordshire

Image: © Roger D Kidd Taken: 30 May 2011

Trent and Mersey Canal. The original 1770s brick bridge is No 99, Siddall's Bridge, an accommodation bridge grassed over now, so very little used. The nearer ugly monstrosity (99A?) is marked in Nicholson's Waterways Guide 4 as a pipe bridge, but it is fully fifteen feet in width (about five metres) and appears to carry an unsurfaced lane from the east, then (formerly) north along the canal side towards the demolished power station site. Accommodation Bridges When the canals were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, they were often routed in such a way that farmers had their land bisected, so bridges had to be provided to allow access to fields on both sides of the canal. These bridges are frequently referred to as accommodation bridges, and however solid and well constructed, don't lead anywhere except from one field to another.

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