Historic Yorkshire bridge badly damaged by repairs condemned as ‘act of total vandalism’

Heritage champion and Sheffield City Council member Janet Ridler got the work to the stone bridge, in Graves Park, Sheffield, halted after members of the public alerted the Friends of Graves Park that cement was being used to do repairs rather than using specialists to rebuild the original structure.

The Friends of Graves Park Facebook page records “utter dismay” to receive the report from a member of the public, which said: “I was in Graves Park this morning, and there were two guys working on the packhorse bridge.

“They were removing stones from the south-west corner of the bridge, and replacing them back with mortar. They had two wheelbarrows full of wet cement, and from the sounds, seemed to be breaking up stones to get them to fit.”

The Friends group said: “This sounds like an act of total vandalism and no way to treat an ancient structure. It would appear to be a further example of the trustees’ lack of any empathy for the history of Graves Park and its heritage features.”

The South Yorkshire Heritage list describes the packhorse bridge in Graves Park as a “probable 14th century stone-built packhorse bridge over the river entering the ravine in Graves Park”.

The park itself is listed as a historic feature, as are the remains of Bole Hill Lodge and a cascade and dam wall. The lodge gates and boundary wall at the north entrance to the park on Derbyshire Lane are also grade II-listed. Graves Park is owned by a charitable trust, of which the city council is sole trustee.

Coun Ridler said: “I was alerted by members of the public to repairs being carried out on the historic packhorse bridge in Graves Park. Instead of using traditional techniques appropriate to an historic structure, contractors were instead using inappropriate methods to repair the bridge.

“As Sheffield City Council heritage champion, I acted immediately to get the work halted and I am grateful to officers in the council’s parks and countryside department for their rapid response.

“Work was immediately stopped following my intervention and prompt action has been taken by parks and countryside to respond to this situation. Expert advice is now being sought to establish whether the repair can be reversed and the bridge returned to its pre-repair state.

“It is vital to ensure that nothing like this happens again and so to this end I have met with representatives from parks and countryside and the Friends of Graves Park and together we have agreed an action plan to address how to ensure that future repairs of historic park structures are completed sensitively and with appropriate materials.

“Parks and countryside, with the support of the Friends of Graves Park, will now work to draw up a comprehensive list of all historic structures in the park, monitoring their condition and ensuring that in future contractors always use appropriate methods and materials when restoration or repair work is done on historic structures.”

The news follows on from the controversy over the park’s popular Rose Garden Cafe, which was closed last July due to safety concerns over the structure. It remains only partially open and discussions are still taking place about any permanent solution.