The bridge that remembers the tramp of feet

Press, 22 April 1978, Page 16

The bridge that remembers the tramp of feet

The Bridge of Remembrance, ssith its distinctive archway, has been the centre of many controversies over the years, the most recent when it was concerted from a traflic bridge to a pedestrian way, thus fulfilling tiie original intentions. But even before it built, the bridge was the centre of arguments —some of which are recalled in this article hv R. C. LAMB.

The Bridge of Remembrance at Cashel Street is a far more imposing structure than the one it replaced. That bridge, erected in 1873, had lasted well and stood up to years of wear and tear. In June of 1893 it was struck by a horse-drawn trap. The driver, a West Melton farmer, had been driving along Cashel Street when the hames strap attached to the horse's collar broke. The horse, taking fright, rushed headlong towards the bridge, which it struck with some force. The driver was thrown out and bruised, and a shaft of the trap was broken. The bridge survived whatever shaking it experienced; but by 1914 it had become “obsolete and dangerous,” and the City Council decided to replace it.

World War I intervened, causing all plans of construction to be suspended, but the idea of going on with them was revived at a public conference convened by the Mayor of Christchurch, Dr Thacker, on August 11, 1919, to consider proposals for “a permanent peace memorial.”

One proposal was for a “Bridge of Remembrance” on massive principles and with an ornamental arch in Cashel Street. This, said the Mayor, had been suggested by Mrs J. Wyn Irwin. A second proposal, for a suitable memorial, called for a ward or some other addition to the Christchurch Hospital. A third favoured a war museum to be incorporated with the Canterbury Museum, and a fourth envisaged a monument on the Port Hills.

The next suggestion was for a broad roadway from Cook and Ross’s corner (at the intersection of Armagh Street and Colombo Street) to Cross the Avon at Armagh Street and go on to Hagley Park, with an ornamental arch at the entrance to the park, an avenue of beautiful trees through the park, and another arch at the far end.

Even more ambitious was the proposal for a roadway from North Cape to Bluff. The road was to be built by the Government, but each town and city through which it passed was to ornament its own section with avenues of trees, and in other ways. This was the scheme suggested by a Christchurch architect, S. Hurst Seager. A roadway to Lyttelton “to amplify the . tunnel” was a suggestion put forward by somebody a little

ahead of his time. Then came the proposal of H. F. (later Sir Henry) Wigram, who advocated a “Hall of Memories and Peace,” to be used as a town hall. It would have “alcoves and niches to represent Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Ashburton, Southbridge and other centres.” and a new city organ might be placed in it. “Nothing could be complete without music,” said this man of ideas, who had already done much for aviation in New Zealand, and to whose fertile mind Christchurch owed much. With all the schemes to think over, the conference —after appointing a committee to consider them—adjourned for a fortnight. Dr Thacker presided over the second meeting, held on August 25, 1919, at which he outlined a short list of four proposals for final consideration, namely: (a) that the Provincial Council Chamber and site be acquired; (b) that the Provincial Council Chamber be completed, by the erection of the tower (provided for in the original plans) and transformed into a Hall of Memories; (c) that a sculptured monument be erected; (d) that a beautiful memorial bridge be erected at Cashel Street as a Bridge of Remembrance of the Canterbury soldiers who marched over it to the war.

Although no decision was made at this meeting, the latter proposal was the one ultimately adopted. Once it had been accepted, a committee was set up to collect public subscriptions. The committee invited tenders from all over the country for a suitable design.

By September of 1921, 24 designs had been submitted. The assessors appointed to judge them were L. D. Coombs, president of the Dunedin branch of the Institute of Architects, and Messrs Andrew Anderson and J. Wyn Irwin, chairman and secretary of the War Memorial Committee. They selected the design submitted by the Wellington architects, Prouse and Gummer. By this time a rival scheme, which favoured a memorial in the form of a column to be erected in Cathedral Square. had gained a fair degree of public support. There lies a story of one of those unfortunate divisions which, whenever they bedevil civic affairs, do little credit to Christchurch. There is no need to traverse it here.

The bridge, as designed by the successful

architects, was to span the r ; ”"r in a single graceful arch of reinforced concieie, faced with Tasmanian freestone. At the eastern end was to be a tall arch of the same stone, flanked by two smaller arenes for the footways, each surmounted by a lion couchant. in stone. According to a contemporary description of these symbols of the Empire, “the British Lion is depicted fresh from conquest. with one paw purring the honourable spoils of victory but with the rest of the body in full readiness for further action.” The pylons on either side of the main arch carry uplifted torches typifying “the everlasting remembrance of all that the names of the chief battle fronts on the panels above stand for.”

me battle fronts, so named, were Mesopotamia, France, Belgium, Palestine, Egvnr and r; niiipo' : After World War II aduiL.onal panels, made of Charteris Bay sandstone, were added to the eastern

face of the arch to commemorate the battlefields of Greece, Crete, and North Africa, as well as those of Italy, the Pacific. the Atlantic, and Europe. The contractor for this work was L. Robertson, and the carving was executed by C. W. H. Dunn. What the architects aimed at in designing the bridge was. they said, "not to provide a main thoroughfare or tramway route, but rather a bridge leading to the more quiet residential quarters between the river and the Public Garden.” The bridge was to be a spot “where one would feel more disposed to walk across than motor across.”

The three arches suggested “a cross-section through a Gothic cathedral”; and nobody, said the designers, would think of rushing through a cathedral. Certainly the alterations recently made to the bridge are in keeping with what the architects had in mind. In July, 1922, the tender of D. Scott and Son, of

Christchurch, for the erection of the Bridge of Remembrance and Memorial Arch in Tasmanian stone, at a cost of £16,078. was approved by the Christchurch City Council. The council agreed to pay for the understructure; but the cost of the arch had to be borne by public subscription. To cover this a sum of £2OOO was still required (£7OOO having already been subscribed).

The Bridge of Remembrance Committee then < campaigned vigorously for funds. Christchurch bands gave a band concert in the Botanic Gardens in November, 1922. to raise funds for the bridge; and between 4000 and 5000 people turned out, in bad weather, to hear them. On Anzac Day, 1923, a crowd of several thousand attended the laying of the foundation stone by the Governor - General (Lord Jellicoe). The Ist Canterbury Regiment supplied a guard of honour for the occasion. His Excellency was presented with a trowel and mallet by Mr

W. H. Gummer, on behalf of his firm; the Last Post was sounded by four buglers from the St Andrew's College cadets; and Colonel Hugh Stuart, president of the Returned Soldiers’ Association, placed on the stone a wreath from members of the association "in tribute to the fallen." On Armistice Dav, November 11, 1924, Lord Jellicoe returned to open the Bridge of Remembrance. On that occasion a guard of honour was provided by the New Zealand Field Artillery, drawn up on Cambridge Terrace. A company of returned soldiers in mufti, headed by the band of the Ist Canterbury Regiment, was drawn up in Cashel Street; and a company, of four officers and 20 marines from H.M.S. Dunedin, under Commodore Beale, was stationed on the bridge itself, with a company of Girl Guides. After the ceremony, the reports ran. "a large number of people took the opportunity of walking across the bridge for the first time.”