Blackfriars Bridge

57 George III. cap. 58 "Act for building a bridge across the river Irwell, from Water Street, in the township of Salford, to St. Mary's Gate, in the township of Manchester, and for making proper Avenues thereto

 A competition was held to produce designs for the new bridge, which would be required to carry more traffic than the existing structure. Prizes of £150 and £100 were offered for the first and second-best designs. William Fairbairn entered with a design for a single-span cast iron bridge. His employer at the time, Thomas Hewes, was also an entrant. Thomas Wright of Salford won the competition with a three-arched stone bridge complete with Ionic columns. The old wooden structure was taken down in 1817, and Thomas Fleming began construction of the new bridge on 4 January 1819. The keystone was laid by J. E. Scholes, boroughreeve of Salford, on 17 June 1820, and the bridge was opened on 1 August.

The erection of this light and elegant bridge in a line with the principal street of Manchester and forming a spacious communication with Salford was a long-desired improvement to the town The bed of the river Irwell which it crosses is here very narrow and liable to floods which rise suddenly and to a great height these sometimes made the former bridge impassable it was of wood and for foot passengers only [see below].  Our view of the present finely proportioned structure is taken from the old or Salford Bridge a little higher up on the same river The road is carried strait over three semicircular arches the two piers adorned with coupled Ionic columns and an entablature crowned with a handsome balustrade. [The Landscape Album; or, Great Britain Illustrated: containing fifty-nine views by W. Westall, Esq. ARA. With descriptions of the scenery by Thomas Moule, Esq.  Second series. London: Charles Tilt, 1834.]

Reference           Manchester Guardian 4 November 1848 page 8 – removal of tolls
Reference           Manchester Guardian 15 March 1848 page 6 – removal of tolls