Geograph - photograph every grid square

This carries a path from Heys lane, near the site of Dean Wesleyan Chapel, to Spa Wood. It does not appear to be on a packhorse route, and if erected by the landowner I would have expected that it would have been built wide enough for a cart. The name 'Spa Wood' suggests that this is where the mineral spring that attracted thousands of people on 'Spa Sunday', the first Sunday in May, in the 19C. There were preachers, speeches by political activists (probably early socialists), and brass band concerts. It seems likely that they came via Dean Chapel, in which case this bridge might have been built to give access to the wood and spring. I have not yet found the spring or anything to suggest that there were major events here. The bridge is shown and named on the 1850 six-inch map. The township boundary is along the north-eastern side of the stream, so that the bridge was in Midgley (this part of Midgley was later transferred to Wadsworth civil parish). This is an image of the bridge taken 30 years ago SE0228 : Spa Wood footbridge - it has evidently been repaired since then.