Boothferry Bridge

Boothferry Bridge carries the A614 road over the River Ouse, two miles north-west of Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The steel girder structure stands on twelve piers sunk seventy feet below the waterline, with a central swing span that once allowed barges to pass two abreast. The bridge replaced a ferry owned by the Bishops of Durham and Ripon, which had operated since at least 1513. An act of Parliament in 1925 gave river traffic priority, a rule that remains today. When it opened in 1929 it became the furthest downstream crossing on the Ouse, cutting twenty-five miles from the Hull to London route. The bridge was built by Cleveland Bridge to designs from Mott, Hay & Anderson at a cost of £116,467. The bridge’s swing span offers a clear width of 125 feet, once used by barges heading upstream to Selby. Five local authorities shared the funding: the Ministry of Transport, West Riding, East Riding, Hull and Goole councils. A major repair in 1979 cost £1 million, and further work in 2021 spent £2.2 million on renovation. The bridge marks the western boundary of the Humber Estuary Special Area of Conservation. Two folk songs were recorded about the bridge in 1972, one by The Lonesome Travellers and another by Harvey Andrews with Rick Wakeman and Ralph McTell. Visitors see the long steel girders and massive piers rising from the river. The swing section rests on the Yorkshire bank, ready to open for river traffic. Footpaths run along both sides of the 32-foot-wide deck, separated from the 20-foot carriageway. To the east lies the Ouse Bridge carrying the M62 motorway, built in 1976 to relieve pressure on Boothferry. The surrounding flatlands stretch away under wide skies, typical of the East Riding landscape.