History – A tale of three bridges

Next time you cross the bridge into Warkworth, near the Bridgehouse Hotel, take a look at the footbridge running alongside it. Opened in 1914 and used until the current bridge was built in 1971, it serves as a reminder of Warkworth’s past and as a testament to the foresight of the area’s earlier people. But who knew it was the third bridge built over this part of the Mahurangi River known as the Lower Falls?

The first bridge was planned by the Upper Mahurangi Road Board, whose minutes of a meeting in August 1867 report the dilapidated state of a footbridge near the old post office and the need to provide satisfactory access to both sides of the river for everyone. In his book Mahurangi, J.H. Keys writes that Miss Wilson told how the crossing at the Lower Falls “had to be made upon logs resting against the rocks or chained together”.

Six years later, in August 1873, the Daily Southern Cross reported that the Mahurangi Bridge was rapidly being brought to completion: “It will be a most substantial and ornamental triumph of engineering skill, the difficulty in its construction being to firmly secure the piles in the solid rock at the depth of 17ft beneath the water. The piles are of totara, 12m in diameter and well braced and bolted. There are six piers 22ft apart and the two land piers making a total of 161ft. The planking is 9×3 and a substantial handrail completes the superstructure.”

However, by 1901, concerns were being raised about the safety of the wooden bridge and at some point, a decision was made to build a more substantial bridge to better serve the town. This may have been influenced by letters in the local papers, including, “On Sunday morning last, we happened to be standing on the new bridge at Warkworth, when five young horsemen crossed it at hand-gallop. We were astonished at the heavy vibration caused and think that the County Council would be wise in enforcing anything in its power to protect this bridge from such usage”. Five years later, in 1906, a notice in the paper said that any drivers or riders crossing the bridge at other than a walking pace would be liable for a £5 fine.

Around this time, the bridge’s original totara piles were replaced with concrete piles, with the newspaper reporting, “The new bridge is a very useful acquisition, as the old bridge was becoming unsafe for traffic. It is supported by six concrete piers; it being hoped that they will prove more durable and cheaper than the use of totara piles”.

However, by 1912, further improvements were deemed necessary, with another article reporting that the bridge was not wide enough and that a footway was necessary. This led to the wooden top being replaced with ferro concrete work, and the bridge expanded to provide extra width. J.H. Keys, again in Mahurangi, says that the new bridge was built on the piles of that erected to replace the 1873 structure … the old decking and handrails were removed, adding height to the piles, and building a new superstructure.

In April 1914, the official opening of the bridge that stands today was a grand affair, coinciding with a visit by Prime Minister W.F. Massey. Nathaniel Wilson, who the PM referred to in his speech as “the father of Warkworth”, presided over the cutting of the ribbon and at the banquet that followed, with Mr Massey telling the large gathering that the bridge would be a monument to Wilson’s memory.