Private bridges and tunnels

[wrinkly]

I'm fairly sure this bridge in Newton St Cyres over the A377 in Devon between Exeter and Crediton is private as there's a door at the end. I don't know where it goes to or from and I don't know whose bridge it is. Is there anyone from that area who knows? The sign on the bridge is for the staggered junction ahead and it's lit up on the July 2015 streetview.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/QWcwTc2o6NU3PkfK7

The bridge is mentioned (under the heading Newton House) on the Wikipedia page on Newton St Cyres.

[vlad]

Here's one in Wolverhampton connecting two sections of the garden at Wightwick Manor. It's now National Trust so it's possible to walk over it.

This one allows the residents of Maer Hall to get to church without having to cross the road. It's an unexpected find as the public road looks quite ordinary when you turn off the A51.

[multiraider2]

Tarporley was mentioned and not too far away from that is Eaton Hall, the country house of the Duke of Westminister. That has a rather long private road/path from the A41 including this bridge over the B5130. It also has a rather spectacular bridge over the Dee close to this see here but that is also a public footpath.

[Ross Spur]

Bridge over A511 Horninglow Street at Burton upon Trent connecting two parts of Coors Brewery:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.80872 ... &entry=ttu

[Octaviadriver]

I'm fairly sure this bridge in Newton St Cyres over the A377 in Devon between Exeter and Crediton is private as there's a door at the end. I don't know where it goes to or from and I don't know whose bridge it is. Is there anyone from that area who knows? The sign on the bridge is for the staggered junction ahead and it's lit up on the July 2015 streetview.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/QWcwTc2o6NU3PkfK7

The bridge is mentioned (under the heading Newton House) on the Wikipedia page on Newton St Cyres.

Thanks wrinkly. Why didn't I think of looking there?

[KeithW]

I'm fairly sure this bridge in Newton St Cyres over the A377 in Devon between Exeter and Crediton is private as there's a door at the end. I don't know where it goes to or from and I don't know whose bridge it is. Is there anyone from that area who knows? The sign on the bridge is for the staggered junction ahead and it's lit up on the July 2015 streetview.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/QWcwTc2o6NU3PkfK7

The bridge is mentioned (under the heading Newton House) on the Wikipedia page on Newton St Cyres.

There is a footpath over the bridge to the church of St Cyr and Julitta according to the OS Map and the church is on a pilgrimage route. The footbridge seems to have been built so as to avoid carnage amongst the congregation
https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/8675/

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.77063 ... ?entry=ttu

[Big Nick]

I recently went under this small bridge and thought nothing more of it at the time, thought it was perhaps an abandoned rail bridge.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/52%C2 ... ?entry=ttu

But later when looking back at the map I realised all ways onto the bridge are private roads. I think this is one of the only driveways I have seen where the access is via a bridge the owner must have acquired or maintain. It looks like a fairly significant country estate.

I had an idea that this was an old railway line going overhead judging by the style of bridge. I was slightly out by a few yards as the Bedford to Hitchin line (Midlands Railway, 1855-1964) actually ran alongside the road slightly to the east.
My suspicion is that the east-west road had to be raised over the railway which means there were 2 bridges built very closely here.
If you were to go back and walk into the woods you should find the railway cutting and the other bridge.
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... =oneinch63

[multiraider2]

MOD private bridge to connect both sides of HMS Seahawk (Culdrose) and which acts as a GSJ for traffic northbound to/from the base but which is still queued up in peak departure time.

[jnty]

MOD private bridge to connect both sides of HMS Seahawk (Culdrose) and which acts as a GSJ for traffic northbound to/from the base but which is still queued up in peak departure time.

Similarly, an underpass of the Edinburgh City Bypass which provides a secondary access to Dreghorn Barracks for unclear reasons.


https://maps.app.goo.gl/hwhmABgoURiVJARK9

[swissferry]

Drove under and walked over this old footbridge last week which I presume in owned by Atholl Estates. A footbridge is shown here on the 25" to mile OS map published 1867.

[WHBM]

Not so many private tunnels, but here's one at Portland into the prison there

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.5639949 ... ?entry=ttu

Narrow, and has traffic signals controlling it.

I presume the main access to Heathrow Airport central area counts as a private tunnel as well.

[MotorwayGuy]

You occasionally get overpasses where a dual carriageway severed a farm to maintain access. This one over the A2 carries what I believe to be a private road, it is publicly accessible to pedestrians though.

[XC70]

How about this for unusual.... A private tunnel under a public road for cows to get to the milking parlour from the adjacent field.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BVjXmpKAifxpQ5ZaA

When I was there, the cows were just walking through of their own accord without being driven or herded.

[JohnnyMo]

Back at the start of Catholic Emancipation (1840's), RC priest were not allowed to wear Ecclesiastical clothes in public to avoid being mistaken for an Anglican. This bridge connects the Presbytery to the church so avoiding the need to change clothing twice to cross the road.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.59355 ... ?entry=ttu

[vlad]

Back at the start of Catholic Emancipation (1840's), RC priest were not allowed to wear Ecclesiastical clothes in public to avoid being mistaken for an Anglican. This bridge connects the Presbytery to the church so avoiding the need to change clothing twice to cross the road.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.59355 ... ?entry=ttu

The architecture is quite a bit simpler than Vicars' Close in Wells (here).

[Big L]

How about this for unusual.... A private tunnel under a public road for cows to get to the milking parlour from the adjacent field.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BVjXmpKAifxpQ5ZaA

When I was there, the cows were just walking through of their own accord without being driven or herded.

One of those just over a mile from home.

[wrinkly]

How about this for unusual.... A private tunnel under a public road for cows to get to the milking parlour from the adjacent field.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BVjXmpKAifxpQ5ZaA

When I was there, the cows were just walking through of their own accord without being driven or herded.

They're called cattle creeps.

[fras]

Talking of private tunnels, there are those built in the 19th Century by the 5th Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. After WW2 this stately home became a military college, and as I was once at Sandhurst in the mid-sixties, I was friends with a fellow cadet who had been a student at Welbeck. The college was for technical students who expected to go into the Army's technical arms. Wikipedia describes it here : -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welbeck_D ... rm_College
He told me all about the tunnels around the college. These were built by the 5th Duke who was something of a recluse, and was known as "Badger" for obvious reasons !
Unfortunately it is not possible to tour the abbey and see these tunnels, but it is possible to see the entrance to one of them. This is at South Lodge, that was on the route the eccentric duke took to get to the nearest railway station which was at Worksop.
Here is the entrance to the tunnel, around 1.4 kilometres from the Abbey : -
https://maps.app.goo.gl/XBhzt37j4mGr8XLk7
If you zoom in on Welbeck Abbey using Bing Maps, you will see the OS map shows tunnel skylights all over the place.
Of course, all these tunnels were built on the duke's estate, and by the "cut-and-cover" method. Most were wide enough to take a carriage and horses.

Some more info on the tunnels: -
https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/thread ... 016.33961/

[wallmeerkat]

Park Tunnel in Nottingham was once a private tunnel - https://www.visit-nottinghamshire.co.uk ... el-p626771

[Jonathan B4027]

You have the Oxford Brookes bridge over Headington hill as well, presumably built as part of the old Headington Hill Hall estate.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7545159 ... ?entry=ttu