A corner of yorkshire

THE WENTBRIDGE FLYOVER

The route of the old A1 – or the Great North Road – was certainly circuitous as it wove its way through Yorkshire. It went through the centre of all the big towns, causing bottleneck after bottleneck.

But it also encountered some difficult geographical features, and one of those was the valley of the River Went, north of

Doncaster. The road descended by twists and turns and then had to pass over a narrow two-lane medieval bridge before it went up the incline on the other side.

The village of Wentbridge was finally bypassed, to the relief of its householders and drivers alike, in 1961. At the time, the new bridge was one of the largest road viaducts in all of Europe. It is 98ft high, made of pre-stressed concrete, and cost nearly a million pounds to build.

The designer was FA (Joe) Sims and he must have been delighted when it was later given Grade II listed status. Today, it is almost hidden behind lush greenery and trees.