This photo was taken by David Bartholomew, presumably not long before the bridge was lifted.
I cannot remember the year, but recall it was on a miserable wet Sunday. Our main access to Salisbury Road and the town
was down those steps, over the bridge and down the station approach. Obviously, alternative routes were devised with the
dismantling of the bridge - including hacking a path down the side of the cutting to Salisbury Road.
Wiltshire County Council acquired the trackbed and all the railway land, including the house, for the purpose of
building a by-pass. That plan was eventually ditched with the result that the Low Level site became a Council
highways depot and the ex-High Level yard used to build a mental rehabilitation centre. The rump of land in
between, including the site of the house, was eventually sold off - after years of uncertainty and anger from the
James family - for housing development.
The Council incorporated the girders of the bridge in the construction of the ramp that led to the road salt hopper.
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