Draft article not currently submitted for review. This is a draft Articles for creation (AfC) submission. It is not currently pending review. While there are no deadlines, abandoned drafts may be deleted after six months. To edit or make changes to this draft, simply click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window. To be accepted, a draft should: Show the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article by using multiple sources that meet four criteria. The sources should be (1) reliable (2) secondary (3) independent of the subject (4) talk about the subject in some depth. For some topics, there are alternative criteria. Be written from a neutral point of view Respect copyright and do not plagiarize. Do not copy-paste. It is strongly discouraged to write about either yourself or your business or employer. If you do so, you must declare it. Where to get help If you need help editing or submitting your draft, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. These venues are only for help with editing and the submission process, not to get reviews. If you need feedback on your draft, or if the review is taking a lot of time, you can try asking for help on the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Some WikiProjects are more active than others so a speedy reply is not guaranteed. How to improve a draft Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia – a basic overview on how to edit Wikipedia. Help:Wikitext – how to use the markup Help:Referencing for beginners – how to include references Wikipedia:Article development – how to develop your article Wikipedia:Writing better articles – how to improve your article Wikipedia:Verifiability – make sure your article includes reliable third-party sources You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Add tags to your draft Editor resources Easy tools: Citation bot (help) | Advanced: Fix bare URLs Last edited by Horsers (talk | contribs) 2 months ago. (Update) Submit the draft for review!

Bridge 234
Appearance in March 2022
Locale	Bourne, Lincolnshire
Characteristics
Material	Brick
No. of spans	3
History
Construction start	1889
Construction end	c. 1890
Demolished	2 August 2022

Bridge 234 was a historic bridge over the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway on the Bourne-Saxby line,^[1] with 3 arches, carrying an unsurfaced country lane, to the west of Bourne. It was demolitioned in 2022, following a dispute lasting over a year over whether it warranted preservation. It had been described as the last significant railway structure in the town.^[2]

The Bourne-Saxby line was built by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, who had gained permission to build the line on 24 June 1889.^[3] It was opened in 1893, having taken many years due to the digging of Toft Tunnel,^[3] with passenger trains beginning to run regularly the following year.^[4] The bridge was built around this time (circa 1890) alongside two other bridges,^[5] in order to maintain farm access across the line.^[6] It was built out of locally-made bricks, and had three broad elliptical arches (the central arch being the broadest, with double tracks running beneath it), carrying an unsurfaced country lane,^[7][8] and originally featured squat stone-capped rectangular piers at each end, along with a plain brick parapet. A 1903 Ordnance Survey map showed it as having two adjacent brickworks to its north, which may have produced the bricks for the bridge.^[8][9] In total, three tracks ran under the bridge, two under the central arch, and one under the northern arch, which served the brickworks. The bridge also carried a public right of way.^[9]

The Bourne-Saxby line closed in February 1959, the first line in England to be completely closed and dismantled,^[10] however the bridge remained.^[11]

In April 2020, an application to have it listed was rejected, as it was assessed that it lacked "the level of architectural and engineering interest", and the "overall degree of survival" for it to meet the listing criteria for a building of its age and type, while stating that it was of "some local interest as an illustration of the lost railway industry".^[8]

As part of Zone 7 of the Elsea Park housing development, in December 2020 the bridge was scheduled for demolition by Bellway Homes, which they described as "not structurally sound", and in "poor structural condition".^[12][13] The Bourne Heritage Group, a local campaign group created by Steve Giullari, began to campaign against the removal of the bridge.^[14] The planning permission was recommended for approval in March 2021, however with 87 people writing against the proposal, and 5 in support.^[15] The bridge was also visited by the local MP Gareth Davies, who noted the poor condition of it, and called for additional measures to be taken to preserve the historic significance of the site.^[16] Jono Brough of the Elsea Park Community Trust stated that the bridge had 'no historical significance', and noted that it was plagued by litter and graffiti, and that it was "not something the people of Bourne should be proud of".^[17]

The district council planning commitee met on 22 July 2021, where campaigner Steve Giullari called the proposed demolition an "act of vandalism", with several councillors voicing their discontent at the proposal.^[18] In a meeting in August, Steve Giullari suggested that while Bellway Homes claimed the bridge was not structurally safe, he had gained independent advice that suggested otherwise. Paul Fellows, a local councillor and the mayor of the town at the time, stated that the upkeep would likely fall on the Elsea Park Community Trust, but was prevented from voicing his opposition to the preservation of the bridge.^[19] Bellway had refused to attend the meeting.^[20]

In September, a petition opposing the demolition had been signed by over 1400 people.^[21] In the same month, South Kesteven District Council planning committee overwhelmingly voted against the demolition, despite legal advice to the contrary (including suggestions that they could face legal action from Bellway),^[2] with Helen Crawford (Bourne West) claiming that they were "twenty years too late" with the measure, and Phil Dilks (Deeping St James) suggesting that the bridge could be "quite an attraction" if it had been properly looked after.^[22] However, in May 2022, the demolition was approved by a Planning Inspector, overruling the previous District Council planning committee decision.^[5] Images of the play area that would replace it were released, the plans for which were developed alongside the Elsea Park Community Trust.^[23] A second application to have it listed was rejected in July 2022,^[24] and it was demolished later in the same year, on 2 August 2022.^[10][25]

A playground was built on the bridge's site, with bricks being reused from the bridge in its construction.^[25] A tribute to the bridge was created at the former Rippingale Railway Station in 2023, incorporating several bricks from it, which had been recovered after its demolition by Steve Giullari.^[26]

• 
  Overgrown, 2013
• 
  Graffiti in one of the arches
• 
  In 2022 surrounded by construction
• 
  Profile view in early 2022
• 
  Site of the bridge in 2025