A WHIMSICAL INTERLUDE...

Yesterday`s reverie about the Itchen Bridge brought back memories for me of the river crossing before the bridge was built in 1977. 

This painting by LS Lowry - the original of which is in Southampton Art Gallery - is of the Floating Bridge, a vehicle and passenger chain ferry that crossed the Itchen River from Woolston on the east side of the river to Southampton.   The  Woolston Ferry, to give the Floating Bridge its proper name, originated in 1836 and was operated by Southampton City Council before it was supplanted by the new Itchen Bridge.   Ten days after the new bridge opened, the Floating Bridge sailed for the final time. Over the 141 years of its existence, thirteen different barges had sailed across the river. The final barge was numbered 14 to avoid any bad luck! One of the decommissioned ferries was turned into a nightclub!

I recall as a boy being taken by my parents for a ride on the Floating Bridge, just for the hell of it - it was something of a day out but also something of a rite of passage.   At the time, we lived at Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water and we used to travel to Southampton using the Hythe Ferry, which still operates today.   There was then a walk along to the Floating Bridge `terminal` and we then had what would now be the dubious pleasure of riding across to Woolston, before heading back for the return journey.

Although the Itchen Bridge is a magnificent construction and has made life a lot easier for travellers between Woolston and Southampton than the Floating Bridge ever could, nevertheless there is still a lot of nostalgia for the old crossing and the Floating Bridge is remembered with great affection by those, like me, old enough to remember it.   Perhaps that affection is best reflected in the `Woolston Ferry Song,` recorded by Gutta Percha and the Balladeers.  Here it is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul2DYr1iDlw

Told you it was whimsical, but I`m afraid that`s what my blog is all about really.