Photos of Tewkesbury and Ashchurch from Roger Smith

This week's update takes us away from my familiar stamping ground to the other end of the Malvern-Ashchurch railway. The following pictures come courtesy of Roger Smith's excellent Flickr page and show the Northway Lane bridge over the railway at Ashchurch, as well as the Mythe embankment and tunnel portal outside Tewkesbury. The tunnel picture is particularly interesting: I haven't been able to find many shots of the Mythe tunnel so far and Roger's shot clearly shows the small bridges that were ripped up as part of flood prevention works in 2013. The Northway bridge photos are worth a look too: so much of the site around Ashchurch station was levelled but as far as I know the bridge remains, even if its original purpose has long since disappeared. One to look out for in future.

'Last train to Upton-on-Severn entering Mythe Tunnel', 14th August 1961

The Northway Lane bridge pulls into view outside Ashchurch.

Letting off some steam under Northway Lane bridge.

Mythe Road

Upon leaving the Mythe Tunnel, situated below the eponymous house, the Ashchurch railway crossed the floodplain west of Tewkesbury by means of an embankment built sufficiently high to hold the line away from the floodplain of the River Avon. This embankment comprised several small bridges to enable cattle to pass under it, and ran for some 400 metres across open country.

The embankment was removed in 2013 as part of landscaping works designed to reduce the perennial risk of flooding in Tewkesbury. Those of you with better memories will recall that the news of this work was one of the triggers for my starting this project, determined as I was to photograph the remaining relics of the railway before any more of them were removed.

Pictures of the Mythe Tunnel are quite rare, and this excellent shot from Roger Smith shows the last train to leave Tewkesbury as it approaches the southern portal in 1961. Roger was in the prime location to take this photo, leaning out of a window at the rear of the leading carriage as it was pushed towards Ripple. Looking closely at the picture, it is also possible to see the small bridges in the embankment which were demolished in 2013, more of which below.

'Last train to Upton-on-Severn entering Mythe Tunnel', 14th August 1961

The pictures below are not my own, but come from Philip Halling's excellent blog post over on Geograph. The shots show the embankment in 2013, just before it was demolished, and give an idea of its original scope and scale. Whether or not the work has reduced the risk of flooding in Tewkesbury I cannot say, but along with the simultaneous removal of the M50 bridge at Ripple, the destruction of the embankment is a sad loss to local history which I was unfortunately too late to document.

'Railway Embankment at Tewkesbury', March 2013. Used courtesy of Philip Halling via Creative Commons.

'Bridge Parapets on a Disused Railway', March 2013. Used courtesy of Philip Halling via Creative Commons.

'Bridge Parapet on a Dismantled Railway', March 2013. Used courtesy of Philip Halling via Creative Commons.

'Old Railway Bridge', March 2013. Used courtesy of Philip Halling via Creative Commons.

'View towards Tewkesbury along a Disused Railway Embankment', March 2013. Used courtesy of Philip Halling via Creative Commons.

Mythe Railway Bridge

One of the most impressive pieces of architecture on the Malvern-Ashchurch branch line was the brick arch bridge which crossed the River Avon just north of Tewkesbury. Upon exiting the Mythe Tunnel west of the town, the line rose on a gentle embankment to reach the bridge, which flew over the river via a small spit in the centre of the waterway.

The bridge itself can be seen in the bottom right corner of this picture from 1947, albeit with the western section cut off from the edge of the shot. The railway line can also be seen as it crosses the north of Tewkesbury town to arrive at the second station built in the town in 1864. Further back can be seen the original station on the Quays branch line, built in 1840.

The embankment and several small bridges leading up to the main river crossing were removed in 2013 as part of a package of works designed to reduce the likelihood of flooding in Tewkesbury, but a few important remnants of the original bridge remain today. The western section of the brick bridge still stands, and the buttresses on either end of the 'town' side section also remain intact, albeit now linked only by a metal frame. Meanwhile, the spit itself is now the property of Tewkesbury Marina, placing the bridge on private land.

Approaching Tewkesbury along the A38 Mythe Road, an earthern ramp appears along the northern side of the roadway. This is the remaining section of embankment which was left by the Environment Agency and Severn Trent Water after their demolition of the embankment in 2013. Luckily, the chilly Boxing Day weather was enough to keep away the clouds and provide a good light to see across the field!

The remaining section of embankment, north-west of Tewkesbury.

The embankment from further along the Mythe Road.

Looking eastwards across the field towards Tewkesbury, the arches of the original brick bridge become visible in the distance. We continue our walk down Mythe Road, heading on to the road bridge that connects Tewkesbury with Worcestershire.

The bridge arches in the distance.

The bridge closer up.

The western bridge section, 1/2.

The clearest view of the western bridge section, 2/2.

This next picture shows the entire span of the former bridge in context: the western section on the left remains intact, while the 'town' section to the east has been dismembered. Stanchard House, part of Tewkesbury Marina, is clearly visible on the central spit.

A view of the entire river.

Looking closely at the eastern section of the old bridge, we see that all everything but the buttresses on either bank have been dismantled. Nonetheless, even these relics give an idea of what the original bridge must have looked like.

The buttresses supporting what was the eastern section of the bridge.

The buttress on the spit.

The 'town' side buttress on the eastern bank.

The view from King John's Bridge.