The Great Northern Railway (GNR) established its Derby station adjacent to Friar Gate (with its elegant Georgian houses) and the line had to cross the street.  A simple plate girder bridge was not considered suitable for this genteel thoroughfare, so Andrew Handyside & Co of Derby were commissioned to design and supply something more suited to the surroundings.  The result was an elegant arch in cast iron, with intricately moulded parapets and spandrels incorporating the town’s ‘buck-in-the-park’ emblem.  The abutments were of dressed stone.  It was actually two nearly-parallel bridges, each double-track, slightly separated towards the south-western end to accommodate the adjacent station’s island platform.

The Bridge became redundant when the line closed in May 1968. The adjoining viaduct to the north-east was demolished in the early 1970s and the Bridge became in danger of demolition.  However, vociferous public support led to it being designated a Grade 2 listed structure in 1974.

So eager was the Corporation to have a second railway line serving Derby that the Act of Parliament authorising its creation contained very little protection for local residents.  The GNR was able to do whatever was necessary to complete the route economically.  The route can still be clearly discerned in an aerial view of the city today, almost 50 years after the line was closed.

The residential areas around Friar Gate and South Street were particularly affected, with South Street losing half its length and Baxter Street vanishing completely beneath the GNR’s yard and warehouse.  Short Street and Cherry Street were completely demolished.

Uttoxeter Old Road had to be raised to cross the railway where it was eight tracks wide, creating an awkwardly steep approach road and a difficult junction with Parcel Terrace, as well as resulting in the demolition of more of the original Victorian terraced housing.