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Windmill Lane, SOUTHALL, UB2 4ND

View from Windmill Lane

View from just off the Three Bridges.

Three Bridges is an "ancient monument" with road crossing restricted to light vehicles. There is an attractive walk along the towpath.

This shot was taken from canal level, with - just above the centre of the picture - the old GWR branch to the docks at Brentford. An aqueduct carries the Grand Union Canal over the railway, while overhead a bridge carries Windmill Lane over both. In a sense that adds up to no more than two bridges, though from J Taylor's Geograph http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1182019 you can see how the name may have arisen. The old GWR branch to Brentford is now little used, and was reduced to single track a good many years ago. I have to add that I have known the Windmill Lane bridge since cycling over it in school days, but wasn't aware of the complexity of the structure until Geograph led me to explore the canal - again on a bicycle. Notice the pigeon, top right, keeping an eye on me!

The section of the Grand Union Canal through Hanwell Locks and Norwood from the River Thames at Brentford was opened in 1794. Three Bridges was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and dates from 1856 when work began to carry both a road (Windmill Lane) and the Grand Junction Canal over the Great Western & Brentford Railway which was to be in a deep cutting at the same point. The line was opened in 1859 by when Three Bridges was complete. The principal design features of the bridge are a central brick pier supporting large metal beams which surround the canal in an eight feet deep cast iron trough and vertical girders and side walls with arches which support the road. See http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/features/windmill_lane_bridge/index.shtml This view is from the canal towpath at Three Bridges and looks down onto the freight line beneath. This is used to carry refuse from a transfer station at Brentford on to the main line at Southall - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brentford_Branch_Line for more information. This direction looks towards Brentford.

The Three Bridges is a unique transport intersection, designed and built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was to be his last project before he died on 15th September 1859 just two months after its completion. The correct name for it should be Windmill Bridge - named after the Southall Mill, which stood on the south-western side of the original canal bridge which was first built in the 1790's when the canal was cut. J.M.W. Turner painted this windmill in 1806. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner_014.jpg Known locally as Three Bridges, the name is a misnomer as there are in fact only two bridges - the road bridge over the canal and the canal bridge over the railway. The canal is conveyed through an 8 ft cast-iron trough over the railway, with the road on a brick & cast-iron girder bridge above. The Three Bridges was constructed as a result of the Brentford Branch line being built to connect the Great Western Railway at Southall to the docks at Brentford. Which was opened in July 1859. Brunel chose the location for the Three Bridges intersection where the canal was already crossed by Windmill Lane. The Three Bridges has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by English Heritage. There is a 3 ton weight and 6' 6" width restrictions on the road bridge.