In case anyone's wondering, the original tram bridge was actually built in the 1790s and was the result of the Lancaster Canal failing to raise enough finance to build all its line. There was also a big problem with sourcing enough water to feed the 180 foot flight of locks from the Leeds and Liverpool canal to the main line of the Lancaster Canal. So the canal was built in two parts, a level branch off the Leeds and Liverpool, then a tramway down to Preston to join the rest of the line to Lancaster and Kendal.

The tramway was disused by the 1860s, and became a footpath, with the original wooden bridge over the Ribble getting gradually more hazardous, till it was replaced by a concrete bridge in the 1930s. So the loss of the bridge is more a loss of a right-of-way than of a historical monument.

I slept under it once, in the company of a small group of very friendly and civilised homeless people. I had a girlfriend near Preston, and I'd delayed leaving too long so I missed the last bus to Manchester. Fortunately it wasn't wet or too cold.