h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Named Bridges on the A130, Essex, UK - A4521971
Author: Emmily~ (Ace/Guru/Scout/Human ) ~ I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not sure. - U190758

Hmmm maybe I'm a bit sad, but we were travelling along the A130 recently and I noticed a part of it where all the bridges had names. I was intersted to find out why, and what they were named after, and this is the result of that.

Emmily

Not sad, Emmily. Wierd and wonderful. Very much a part of h2g2.

The level of excitement in reading it might indicate how sad I am though what a great article; A few qustions; who hc chose the names for the bridges; or did you mention that? Do they have any other 'identification' thigns; does each briddge, for example also have like a number? (I'm sure I've seen numbers next bridges on road maps, wonder if thats an thing they do ) Good article! I wonder though; is it a bit too short? Its certianly to the point, but I don't know....

Cheers TRiG and 2legs

Not sure who named them, assume it was the Essex 'highways department'

According to the email I received from Essex highways depatment, they are numbered too, though I didn't notice that, I was too busy scribbling the names down, and what type of bridge they were, as we zoomed past. I'll see if I can find out anything about the numbers, though the Entry is about the names, rather than the numbers.

I've been told previously that short Entries are ok, it's the content that matters, rather than the length.

Emmily

Yes, it is a bit short - but interesting, and in h2g2 spirit. Obvious ways to extend it:

Is there any particular reasons why there were so many aircraft crashes near Monument Bridge (e.g. end of runway for airfield.landing strip? Any particularly notable crashes. (Near where I live there is 'Airman's Crash, denoting the first fliers to be killed in Britain as a result of aircraft crash.

Mary Rose cottage: Why was it so-named? Any connection with Henry VIII's flagship?

Turnpike Bridge a bridge which you travel under, with a road above. It was named after the adjacent Rettendon Turnpike roundabout. Many of the main roundabouts in Essex have official names.


Curry Hill: Why is this called Curry Hill' taken from Curry Hill, a local road.


Hoe Lane. Again why? Promontory, gardening tool?


Canon Barns Farm. Who was Canon Barns (Is it, in fact, named after a person at all?


Loads of researc to do here Emmily. But it will be worthwhile. Once or twice in 'Answers to Correspondents' in the Daily Mail, I've seen questions such as 'What is that building at the junction of.... with the M whatever'
Also, someone has recently written a book about all the landmarks or something around the M25. So, I think there could well be quite an audience for your Entryt

I'm assuming this is the new A130 bypass, I'm from about 3 miles away from the turnpike

Could be worth pointing out that (and I'm assuming here) is the strech from the A12 to the A13?

I haven't read the entry yet, so I'm going to get this out the way first...

You're so sad sometimes Em!

Okay I promise to read this when I get home.

Kat

I agree !!

Oh cheers BigAl, trust you to complicate a simple Entry Seriously, I'll see if I can find out anymore. The houses and farms are private dwellings, I can't go knocking on their doors questioning them about the names of their properties, even if I lived near enough, which I don't

The 'Maryrose' is not an error, it is one word. LMAO just noticed, it is Mayrose, not maryrose

Jon_m can you tell me what the 'Turnpike' is please? I did a quick google, and all I got was a load of places with addresses on Turnpike road.

>"I'm assuming this is the new A130 bypass. Could be worth pointing out that (and I'm assuming here) is the strech from the A12 to the A13?"

Jeez, I don't know, I'm too sad to know anything about roads...

At the top of the email it says - "Bridge Names A130 (A127 to A12)" that means nothing to me.

Would it make it clearer if I changed the first sentence to:

"Along a stretch of the new A130 (A127 to A12) bypass near Chelmsford, Essex etc"

Emmily

'..trust you to complicate a simple Entry'. Well, I wasn't trying to complicate it; just pitting forward suggestions for making it a bit longer, as suggested by someone else.

Excuses, excuses, you know I was just teasing.

Though I do blame you for my googled for over an hour, and found zilch.

Oh well, I'll try again later, or tomorrow, or even go to local library, see if I can find anything there.

Emmily

What a great idea for an entry Emmily - something everyday but probably taken for granted by most people and hardly given a thought.

I think the entry could be improved a lot in three ways.

Firstly, get a road map of Essex (either from a shop or online) and find out the names and/or numbers of all the roads which cross the A130 via these bridges.

Secondly, get rid of all references to traffic in the context of "has traffic travelling underneath", unless you say *which* of the two road's traffic you're referring to. For instance (Annwood Bridge) - "has traffic travelling underneath". Well, it has traffic travelling both over and under, unless there's never any traffic on the A130. Traffic travels over the road, but it's the road which actually traverses the bridge. Much better to say 'the A130 travels over/under such-and-such Road/Lane - you've got four different options to vary the descriptions: A130 over/under; minor road over/under.

Besides, at 3.30 in the morning I doubt that there's much in the way of traffic on these country roads, but the road is always there. Use the road as the reference, not the traffic.

Thirdly, change this: "and some are just a small brick walls on either side of the road, with the traffic flowing underneath".

It took me about five minutes and several reads-through to understand that you're explaining that the A130 goes *over* this bridge with the minor road underneath. You've already made reference in that paragraph to the A130 and said "you travel underneath", so as the reader I've firmly got it implanted in my mind that whatever traffic you're talking about, it must be me, driving on the A130. When I come to that last part I've got two things confusing me - how can two low walls be thought of as a bridge, and how can traffic (me) be flowing underneath them?

Just say say that in some cases the A130 travels under the minor road, and in others it's the other way round. No need for any descriptions of traffic retaining walls/barriers, which I now understand is what you're talking about there.

It would also help if you could be specific about exactly which stretch of the A130 we're driving on. Instead of ending the introduction with "The following is the names of the bridges, and what they are named after.", say something like 'So let's take a journey along the A130. We'll join it from and head north', then insert a header titled something like 'The Bridges'.

"for ease of location to breakdowns and traffic accidents"
'for ease of location whenever breakdowns and traffic accidents occur'.

I think you can probably lose all instances of the word 'official'. These names of these bridges (and the Rettendon Turnpike roundabout) are no more or less 'official' than the names of the roads we all live on, but we never use the word 'official' when talking about normal street names. It's certainly *unusual* for roundabouts and bridges to have names.

"St Peters Way Footbridge is apparently named after the footpath of the same name"
If these names *are* official, then either it is, or it isn't - there can't be any 'apparently' about it.

"Downhouse Bridge another footbridge, is name after a local property, it is ambiguous as to just what this property is"
That really needs more research to find out what the property might be. If it's a long-gone house or dwelling, the exact details of which have disappeared from memory, you must say so.

"At the beginning and end of this stretch of the A130 there is a sign declaring it as a Country Route."
Firstly, what is a Country Route, and secondly does that have any relevance to the bridges? Or is that just mentioned for ease of locating this stretch? If so, it would probably be best in the introduction.

Jeez and I thought BigAl had complicated things, Gosho!

Ok, ok I'll be serious...I had a very quick look at an online map, and it's possible, that one of the bridges may be above a railway line, so I'll find a better map and check them all out.

(I did think of getting on my bike and going to A130, but partner says "no!" it's too far, and the roads are too fast for me.)

>"and some are just a small brick walls on either side of the road, with the traffic flowing underneath".

But, that's exactly what they look like, if they didn't have a sign with a name on, I wouldn't have noticed them. The brick walls appear to be the tops of what I assume are tunnels on the road below...

>"'So let's take a journey along the A130. We'll join it from <insert name of the road which joins the A130 immediately to the south of the first bridge"

No road joins, it's literally a stretch of road in between the two 'Country Route' signs, they're quite big, and have other details and a phone number on. (which either I wrote down wrong, or no longer exists)

I used the word 'official', to clarify that this wasn't just what locals know it by, I'll delete all officials.


Emmily

If you call suggestions to make an entry better than it already is 'complications', then I guess that's what goes on in PR every day. It's what we do as Scouts.

"if they didn't have a sign with a name on, I wouldn't have noticed them. The brick walls appear to be the tops of what I assume are tunnels on the road below"
I imagine that the walls are the things that stop people falling off the bridge if they're not looking where they're going - all bridges have them don't they? On older bridges they'll be bricks and mortar; on newer bridges they'll be concrete and or metal. You don't build a bridge without some sort of wall or guardrail to stop people droping over the edge, right?

"No road joins"
There must be a junction to the south of where this stretch of the A130 begins - how would you get onto it otherwise?

Since all older British roads connect towns and villages, can you say which two places this stretch is in between - even if those two places aren't precisely at either end of the stretch. Or perhaps between which two other roads the stretch lies between - ie, which road joins the A130 immediately to the south of this stretch, and which road is at the other end. I can't imagine for a moment that there aren't any other roads - I've looked at both maps and satellite pictures of this area and there must be. If I was driving on the A130 and I wanted to look for these bridges this is information I'd want to have under my belt.

There is only 1 junction on that road (aside from at each end), it is for Rettendon (sp?) Turnpike. (A132 junction)

I've traveled on that road many times and it runs from the A12 to just past the A127 (not quite reaching the A13 opps to me), each bridge has a little name sign behind it.

I feel that some of these can be expanded a bit more, cause it is effectivly a list at the moment. May also be worth mentioning whent he road opened (it opened in 2 parts, first from the A12 (south of chelmsford) to the Rettendon Turnpike, then the 2nd strech to the A127 about a year later. I can't remember dates but it was while I was at uni, so 1999-2001ish.

It is a bypass of the A130. It misses out Howe Green, Rettendon and Rawreth, as well as the traffic bottleneck that is the Rettendon turnpike roundabout

Most of that strech of the old A130 (between the A130 and Rettendon and Rettendon and Rawreth) the old A130 is infact a bypass, the orginal route goes through the villages of Howe Green , East Hanningfield, Rettendon and Battlesbridge

Ok, Cheers

This is where I'm at, at the moment stuck! The online maps I've found are not detailed enough, neither was the map I bought this morning; I couldn't get one locally on Chelmsford, so bought an Essex one, useless for what I wanted, but handy to have anyway.

It may not be until next weekend that I can get a suitable map. I'll change Entry and post here as and when I manage to find info.


Emmily

A-Z do a South Essex map book, I think thats likly to be the most detailed. My copy predates the A130 so can't help.

I wonder if a little footwork might be inorder Emmily - driving around looking for roadsigns, or perhaps visiting a few local pubs to ask the locals about local street and road names. Locally

From Post #14
>"(I did think of getting on my bike and going to A130, but partner says "no!" it's too far, and the roads are too fast for me.)"

I don't live near enough, it was on the way to Colchester Camping site. Car's now 'playing up', no unnecessary journeys until she's been fixed. (and that includes no camping. )

I have more problems with this than I thought. Got an 'AA South Esssex, Street by Street' book from charity shop this morning...according to that 'Hoe Lane' is not near A130, certainly not a road the A130 goes over, and as far as I can see, there is no such road as 'Curry Hill' I was going by email I was sent.

I don't know whether to remove this from PR while I try to find a way to find accurate details, or leave it here.

Emmily