A COUPLE of weeks ago in Yesterday Once More we carried a poignant photograph of a man in a top hat sitting beside Barker Tower waiting for the Lendal ferry to carry him across the river. The photograph was taken in October 1852 by William Pumphrey, a well-known early local photographer. A decade after the photograph was taken - on January 8, 1863, in fact - the ferry came to an end after Lendal Bridge opened, we reported.

That didn't tell the full story, however. Because the new bridge over the Ouse had a traumatic beginning.

The Lendal Bridge and York Improvement Act, which paved the way for the new bridge, was passed in 1860. Work began on a bridge designed by one William Dredge later that year. But disaster quickly struck. On September 21, 1861, while still under construction, the new bridge collapsed, killing five men, according to the online History of York.

An extraordinary drawing in the collection of the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society (YAYAS) captures the dramatic scene. it shows a bridge which looks very unlike the one we know today. At the far end, timbers and supporting struts have collapsed, and the whole bridge seems to sag. A number of men are floating in the river, some clinging to pieces of wood, and two boats are sculling out to try to rescue them.

We don't know who made this drawing, unfortunately, or how accurate it really is. But it gives a real glimpse into a very old tragedy.

A copy of the drawing was supplied to us by Ivan Martin of YAYAS. He also sent us in several photographs from the YAYAS collection, which show the 'new' bridge which very quickly replaced the one which had collapsed.

Designed by a new architect - Thomas Page, who also designed Westminster Bridge in London and Skeldergate Bridge in York - the replacement bridge was completed and opened in 1863, hence the closure of the ferry that year.

One of the photographs supplied by Mr Martin shows the the full span of the new bridge from upstream of Lendal Tower in 1863, the year it opened.

Others date from 1910. "When electric trams were introduced in 1910, Lendal Bridge had to be strengthened with three extra steel ribs spanning the length of the bridge," Mr Martin says. "The tracks for the trams could then be inserted," Mr Martin says. These extra steel ribs can still be seen to this day.

Finally, just because it is a great photo, we couldn't resist including one of our own images. it shows traffic crossing a busy Lendal Bridge in January 1960. Just in case you were thinking York's traffic problems are something new...

Stephen Lewis