THIS is the view north, on a sunny June day, upstream on the River Irwell from the Salford bank opposite the Granada TV site on Water Street.
Lynde widened Deansgate (his most significant achievement), built Waterloo Bridge, Princes’ Bridge and the Irwell Street bridge, over the river Irwell.
The buildings on the right are the Victoria and Albert warehouses from around 1840, now Le Meridien Victoria and Albert Hotel, with further along and attached, a covered quay from ten years or so later. These buildings were the location for the short lived Granada TV soap opera Albion Market in 1985. A flop it lasted one year.
The site here was the original quay that gave Quay Street behind its name, and was developed around 1740 by the Irwell and Mersey Navigation Company.
The bridges are the main feature in the view.
The nearest bow arch iron bridge is the Irwell Street Bridge from the late 1870s. Peeping underneath it is the lovely clean sweep of the Albert Bridge from 1844 designed by one of the great British civil engineers, Jesse Hartley who was finishing off Albert Dock in Liverpool at the same time. In the distance is the spike in the sky of the pylon of the elegant Trinity Bridge from Santiago Calatrava from 1995.
Irwell Street Bridge, Lynde's blueprints
Irwell Street Bridge commemorates one of the most important Manchester civil engineers. It was designed by James Gascoigne Lynde.
Lynde was appointed the City Surveyor to Manchester Corporation in 1857 and occupied the position for 21 years.
He was responsible for many works which eased transport problems around the city and, ironically, given the current council's transport emphasis encouraged the city centre to grow through ensuring as much traffic as possible could access the regional capital.
He widened Deansgate (his most significant achievement), built Waterloo Bridge, Princes’ Bridge and the Irwell Street bridge, over the river Irwell. He created water mains, improved the River Medlock to prevent flooding, and constructed the Smedley Viaduct, the Corporation Gasworks at Bradford Road, Alexandra Park and Southern Cemetery, and Philip’s Park and Cemetery. He retired from the position to assisit his son's engineering practice in 1878 and worked until his death on the 15th of March, 1883.
Lynde is one of Manchester's unsung heroes, a remarkably energetic man.
View from Irwell Street Bridge showing rosette detail in red, for Lancashire
Full steam ahead
More views down the river
Irwell Street Bridge from the towpath on the Salford side
Court of Arms of Manchester in iron
Back in the day
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