NEWHAVEN OLD SWING BRIDGE
View looking upriver
By Richard Beckett
This view was taken as a record of when the old bridge was still in the ownership of British Rail. The advert for "Bannisters Depositories" stands out clearly on the roof at the left, and upstream on the right can be seen the mass of cranes which used to work on North Quay. At the middle of the bridge can be seen the old gas lamp which showed Red to warn ships at night that the bridge was closed to river traffic. This gas lamp is now to be seen in the Newhaven Local Musuem. When the bridge was replaced with the modern one, I understand that it was intended to place the large ornate cast iron units as decorative articles within the pedestrian precinct. However when they were temporarily stored down by the Harbour Station, they were "spirited away" by some scrap iron entepreneurs and disappeared in the melting pot.