Drop-in

Visit the site of the Rewley Road Swing bridge to see the results of the restoration of an outstanding example of Victorian railway engineering.

The Swing Bridge is a unique Victorian cast-iron railway bridge, designed by the famous Victorian engineer Robert Stephenson and dating from 1851. It sits next to the water at the Oxford Canal and was built to allow both trains and boats to cross the Sheepwash Channel, industries which were very important to Oxford. When the bridge was still in use, the railwaymen swung the bridge open to let boats pass and then swung it closed to allow trains to pass. The Rewley Road Swing Bridge is the earliest surviving mechanism of its kind in Britain and it is one of only two moving bridges on the Thames - the other being Tower Bridge in London.

The Rewley Road Swing Bridge was lying unused and rusting for decades. OPT's award-winning conservation project saved it from the Heritage at Risk Register. We are now working hard to create a special and biodiverse landscape around the bridge.

Partially accessible - There is full access from the roadside.