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The Elphinstone Bridge was constructed by the Madras Engineers and completed c.1840. It was a stone multi-arched bridge and named after Lord Elphinstone, who was Governor of Madras from 1837 to 1842.
History
1830's
In 1830’s the Madras Government were concerned with the opening of communication south of Fort George and across the Adyar River towards the South and the Alabar Coast [1].
The Pophams Police report had suggested that the river was a barrier and an aid to security in 1785. “The river depth was protection from horse for the first mile” [2].
The Elphinstone Bridge for bridging the Adyar River was constructed under the watchful eyes of John Elphinstone when he was the reigning Governor of Madras from the year 1837 to 1842 and was named after him. It seems to have been completed in about 1840 [3].
The area to the south of the river had been used as hunting grounds by British officials of Fort St. George from the 1680s onwards though Adyar is first mentioned as a suburb of Madras only in a map from the year 1740 when the British purchased the village and integrated it with the Madras Presidency [4].
Before its construction, there were no bridges across the Adyar river except the causeway then known as Marmalong Bridge. Parisals, which were round floats pushed by long poles, were the chief mode of transportation across the river, and there were several makeshift landing places on the banks of the river for carrying goods [5]. The area is subject to severe storms and cyclones and in 1846 a cyclone was registered above 40lb per square foot (90mph/145kph) when the anemometer broke. The wind and storm surge damaged the bridge when one of the massive stone pillars was blown over [6]. The bridge is nearly 1,570 ft (480 mtrs) long and the river is tidal for up to 2.5 miles (4Km) [7] from its mouth.
Madras was built on a plain surrounded by lakes called tanks, These discharge into the rivers and as streams through the sandy and swamp ground that surround the city especially to the south.
The Superintendent of Government Roads was asked to try a trial stone tramway as a means of stabilising the road across the swampy and sandy countryside south of the bridge. Stone Tramways were quite common at this time in Europe and America [8].
1840's Adyar River Tramway
By 1842 a letter to the Court of Directors of the East India Company requested payment of R1817.15 for the construction of the tramway [9].
In the reply the Directors requested a report from the Military Board on the feasibility of the experiment [10]. In the engineer’s report Lieutenant Robertson says the engineer escorted the Superintendent of Roads to review the tramway. A length of stone tramway 684ft (0.12Km) had been built “substantially with judgement. The track had been down 2 monsoons so was a fair trial. It was useful with the public facilitating the haulage across what was in some parts a heavy bed of sand". The cost quoted differed at R1539 for the length of stone track. This meant a calculated R11,88.00 per mile (1.06Km). There was evidence that the sets had moved and over a longer route would be costly to maintain. A suggestion that causeways would be cheaper and more easily maintained [11]. These facts unfortunately put an end to the experiment and the Directors declined to continue [12]. See Adyar River Tramway for more information
1850's onwards
The Elphinstone Bridge became an important and vital link between southern Madras and its ever expanding southern suberbs to the south.
1973 onwards
The bridge remained in use until 1973 until the opening of the Thiru Vi Ka Bridge [13]. THe Hindu reports "the 11-metre wide Elphinstone Bridge has concrete slabs covering the sewer pipelines running over it. The full width of the bridge is covered with the slabs. A flight of stairs is located on either side of the bridge that is used by a few pedestrians" [5].
'The Hindu Newspaper' article 13 Aug 2016, page 4 shows a photograph of the 'Elphinstone Bridge'(1840) on River Adyar in its present state [3], it is the on the side of the current 'Thiru Vi Ka Bridge'. The 'Madras Musings' also gives a modern photograph of the 'Elphinstone Bridge' [14].
References
- ↑ British Library IOR/F/4/2089 "Letter dated 30th November (35) 1842 Board collections 97150"
- ↑ British Library Indian Records series, "Vestiges of Old Madras 1640 – 1800 Vol III P 311 n7" as reported on 23rd Nov 1842
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Hindu Article "The Old Bridges of Chennai Archival information para.5; April 16, 2013; Retrieved 15 Aug 2016
- ↑ Times of India "Rebirth of Adyar creek" by Julie Mariappan & Devparna Acharya; 22 April 2010; Retrieved 15 Aug 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Hindu, Chennai "173-year-old Elphinstone Bridge gets a makeover" by Ramakrishnan, Deepa H. ; 13 January 2013; Retrieved 15 Aug 2016
- ↑ “Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 16”, p. 368; Retrieved 15 Aug 2016
- ↑ The Hindu, Chennai "WRD plans groynes" by Lakshmi, K. ; 3 Dec 2011; Retrieved 15 Aug 2016
- ↑ Google Books “The Journal of the Franklin Institute”. Third series No V 1843 Report on street paving” p.221; Retrieved 15 Aug 2016
- ↑ British Library IOR/Z/E/4/A/198 “Letter dated 23rd November 1842”
- ↑ British Library IOR/F/4/2089 “Military Report 135 1843 Board collections 97150”
- ↑ British Library IOR/F/4/2089 “Military Report 135 1843 Board collections 97150”
- ↑ British Library IOR/E/4/963/P905 “Letter from the Revenue Department dated 9th September 1863”
- ↑ Wikipedia "Thiru Vi. Ka. Bridge"; Retrieved 15 Aug 2016
- ↑ Madras Musings “Bridge building tales of yore” 1 Oct 2014, page 4; Retrieved 13 Aug 2016
