History of Crossing the River Mersey Between Runcorn & Widnes
Catalyst Science Discovery, Mersey Road,
Widnes WA8 0DF
7.30 pm, Wed 11th July 2018
by Bob Roach – Trustee at Catalyst
For over 1,000 years, the desire to cross the Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes has led to muddy, dangerous, historic and creative ideas about how to do it. With illustrations, this talk will describe key parts of the story, some of which you will be aware of, but some of which may surprise you! Centuries of having just a row-boat ferry that had to contend with the fast-tidal flow – recounted in Tuppence per Person per Trip. Historic figures who marched their troops across; if only the money had been available to build proposals by leading engineers; it was perhaps fortunate that one design was changed at a late stage because the planned bridge might have blown down!