On August 28, residents of London's east end celebrate Meadowlily Bridge's 100th birthday. The metal truss bridge has stretched over the south branch of the Thames since 1910, when it provided a route for area farmers to deliver milk or visit London's market. Now for pedestrian use only, the bridge is located inside Meadowlily Woods Environmentally Significant Area. When I visited, I had the pleasant sensation of travelling back in time, as I strolled down a tree-lined country road in the former London Township.
Meadowlily was constructed by Isaac Crouse, the same man who built Blackfriars Bridge. Though not as architecturally significant as Blackfriars (London's oldest iron bridge dating back to 1875) Meadowlily is still of importance to Eastenders. We have a few other oldies as well, like the King Street Bridge, dating to 1897, or the Thames Street Railroad Overpass of 1889 (my personal favourite - it looks so ancient).
Info on Meadowlily and other bridges may be found on http://www.historicbridges.org/, a Michigan-based website that records historic bridges in surrounding states and Ontario. But prepare yourselves. The webmaster doesn't have high praise for Canada's bridge-recording track record: "In Canada, there does not appear to be such a requirement in place that mandates the evaluation of all bridges in the country...it seems that agencies like the Ministry of Culture do not even know about the bridges in the first place. If the local counties, townships, or municipalities want to consider their bridge historic and preserve them, or consider them non-historic and demolish them, that is their own decision." What Canada needs, it seems, is an historic bridge inventory, a list of all bridges over 50 years old, so that structures on the list may then be evaluated for significance.
Ouch. Canada, we should get on to that right away. I haven't been able to find much out there other than this list on Wikipedia, which I'm not sure is a comprehensive inventory. How come it's up to an American website to highlight our heritage for us anyway? Couldn't someone out there get busy and make a nice bridge website? I'd do it myself but I'm too busy writing these rants...
Note: A developer plans to build condos on Meadowlily Road near the Park Farm, a property featuring an 1840s brick cottage. Details (well, a few) may be found on the city website. Naturally there's been pushback from area residents who'd like to see a smaller development so close to an ESA.
I know, it's for safety; the City of London doesn't want anyone falling off and suing them. But couldn't something more attractive than this band aid solution be found? No wonder local residents call it "the cage."
