New Garden Historical Commission - Wingwalls

<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#990099" > <table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" bgcolor="#999999"> <tr> <td><p align="center"><img src="../../lyceum/lyceum.jpg" width="200" height="114"></p> </td> <td align="center"> <h1><font color=black>New Garden Historical Commission</font></h1> <p><a href="../../index.htm" target="_top"><font color=black>Click here</font></a> <font color=black> to return to the home page and links to other articles</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> <h2>Landenberg Bridge Wingwalls</h2> <p><img src="bridge_and_wingwalls.jpg" width="500" height="181"></p> <p>The Landenberg Bridge originally had masonary wingwalls on all four corners. These wingwalls are now all either seriously deteriorated or missing altogether and should be repaired or reconstructed along with the trusses as part of the Landenberg Bridge rehabilitation project..</p> <p><img src="map.gif" width="757" height="566"></p> <p align="center">Location of Wingwalls</p> <h2 align="left">Western Wingwalls</h2> <h2 align="left"><img src="western_hist.jpg" width="500" height="93"></h2> <p align="left">A historical photo of the western wingwalls around 1905.</p> <p align="left"><img src="west_map.gif" width="147" height="382"></p> <p align="left">Both of the western wingwalls were L-shaped and had a short section parallel to the roadway and a longer section parallel to the creek.</p> <h3 align="left">South-West Wingwall (Hotel corner)</h3> <p align="left">The SW Wingwall is the most intact of the four wingwalls today. The section parallel to the roadway is 9-ft long, and the section parallel to the stream is approximately 33-ft long.</p> <p align="left"><img src="sw_plaque_location.jpg" width="500" height="281"></p> <p align="left">The SW wingwall included a stone plaque from the 1871 bridge.</p> <p align="left"><img src="1871_plaque.jpg" width="500" height="365"></p> <p align="left">The 1871 stone plaque from the earlier bow-truss bridge is now in the basement of the wool house across the street. The stone masonary from that project is still in use today. The plaque should be remounted in its original location on the SW wingwall.</p> <p align="left"><img src="sw_today_1.jpg" width="500" height="375"></p> <p align="left">This portion of the SW wingwall is in excellent shape and provides the best model for reconstructing the rest of the wingwalls. The wall was 2-ft thick, and the pointing style of the stonework is readily apparent. At this corner, the top of the wingwall comes up to the height of the iron railing.</p> <p align="left"><img src="sw_today_2.jpg" width="500" height="375"></p> <p align="left">The portion of the SW wall parallel to the stream is deteriorated but still fairly intact. This wall was stuccoed over at some point, but the early photographs indicate that the retaining walls were not originally stuccoed.</p> <p align="left"><img src="sw_today_3.jpg" width="500" height="375"></p> <p align="left">A large chunk of the wall has fallen into the creek. The 1871 plaque was probably mounted on the back of this chunk.</p> <h3 align="left">North-West Wingwall (Church Corner)</h3> <p align="left">Little remains of the L-shaped NW Wingwall today. Remenants of the section of the wall parallel to the road indicate that portion was about 8-ft long. Remenants of the section of the wall parallel to the stream extend for about 23 feet.</p> <p align="left"><img src="upstreamview.jpg" width="332" height="174"></p> <p align="left">An early photograph showing the NW wingwall from upstream.</p> <p align="left"><img src="north_west_wall_length.jpg" width="403" height="130"></p> <p align="left">Using the 19-ft roadway width at the far end of the bridge as a yardstick, this photograph verifies that the portion of the wall parallel to the stream was originally about 23-ft long.</p> <p align="left"><img src="nw_height.jpg" width="310" height="164"></p> <p align="left">The wingwall on this corner came up only to the middle of the iron railing of the bridge.</p> <p align="left"><img src="nw_drain_hole.jpg" width="246" height="137"></p> <p align="left">There was a large square drainage opening in the wall (directly above the "I" in "MILLS").</p> <p align="left"><img src="nw_today_1.jpg" width="371" height="500"></p> <p align="left">The NW corner of the bridge today showing the remains of the wingwall. Some concrete has been poured to form a crude drainage spillway.</p> <p align="left"><img src="nw_today_2.jpg" width="500" height="375"></p> <p align="left">The remains of the NW corner of the portion of the wingwall parallel to the road. The distance from the corner edge of the white corner stone to the end of the wingwall by the iron railing is 8-ft. The reconstructed wingwall will serve here as a guard rail to prevent people on the walkway from falling off the edge of the abutment.</p> <p align="left"><img src="nw_today_3.jpg" width="375" height="500"></p> <p align="left">The remenants of the section of the NW wingwall parallel to the stream extends for approximately 23-ft back from the white corner stone.</p> <h2 align="left">Eastern Wingwalls</h2> <p align="left"><img src="eastern_hist.jpg" width="500" height="154"></p> <p align="left">The eastern wingwalls were both straight line walls and were flared out from the roadway. The length of these walls was estimated by noting that the left wall comes out to to meet the driveway at the left in the above photo. A 22-ft length estimate was made by measuring the distance to the edge of the current driveway. The flare was estimated to be 6-ft by extrapolating the angle from some remenants of the SE wingwall.</p> <p align="left"><img src="east_map.gif" width="162" height="239"></p> <h3 align="left">South-East Wingwall (Driveway Corner)</h3> <p align="left"><img src="se_height.jpg" width="381" height="481"></p> <p align="left">The height of the wingwall at this corner seems to have been slightly higher than the iron railing of the bridge.</p> <p align="left"><img src="se_today_1.jpg" width="400" height="533"></p> <p align="left">Sufficient remenants of the SE wingwall remain to estimate the angle at which the wall flared out from the road. Extending this line out 22-ft to the presumed end of the wall suggests it was flared out about 6-ft.</p> <h3 align="left">North-East Wingwall (Seckler's Corner)</h3> <p align="left">There are no visible remains of the NE wingwall. It is possible that some here digging would turn up the buried remenants of this wall, but there is enough debris piled up to make digging difficult. It was therefore assumed that this wall was symmetrical with the SE wingwall.</p> <p align="left"><img src="ne_height.jpg" width="400" height="385"></p> <p align="left">The wingwall at this corner appears to have come up to about 2/3 the height of the iron guard rail of the bridge.</p> <p align="left"><img src="ne_today_1.jpg" width="400" height="533"></p> <p align="left">The wingwall on this corner will serve as a safety railing for the walkway between the walkway surface and the drop-off to the left. Since the bridge will be tilted, the walkway here will be 1.5 to 2-ft higher than it is now.</p> </body>