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A fact from Grosvenor Bridge (Chester) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 13 December 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:
Latest comment: 11 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
What is currently written in the article is factually incorrect. Pre-1829 maps show the old Wrexham Road/Overleigh Road junction was where the original plan for the bridge's alignment was to be. This would have led straight to the original gatehouse of the main Chester approach to the Duke's estate. The driveway and the Old Wrexham Road joined just north of this point here.
When the Grosvenor Bridge was built to the west of the preferred position due to soft mud preventing the building technology of the day placing piles at that point, two large embankments had to be built for the new approaches to the repositioned bridge.
It must be remembered that the patron to the project was the Duke Of Westminster, who was helping to pay for it with the intention of giving his name to the bridge and to having a direct route to Eaton Hall. The new bridge alignment meant that was not possible so a new Chester Drive had to be constructed thus creating Old Wrexham Road when it cut through the original highway here. The new northerly end of the public Wrexham Road would converge with the Duke's new entrance, at what is now Overleigh roundabout. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.52.210.84 (talk) 13:58, 14 December 2011 (UTC)Reply
An interesting theoretical question would be, what would have happened to the neo-classical appearance of Chester Castle if the original alignment to Old Wrexham Road had been achievable? I would assume there would have been a large embankment (like the one today that divides the Little Roodee from the Roodee) would have had to be constructed beneath the castle's southern approaches. This would mean the Little Roodee would never exist as the land would be just part of the eastern end of the Roodee. Castle Drive would either have to pass underneath the embankment or not exist at all, too. Furthermore on the Handbridge side of the river, an approach embankment would have had to be built (but it would not have been as long as the one that was actually built at Overleigh), although I reckon it would have had to be higher to raise above the bluffs at this point. Obviously the mid-Victorian terraces that now occupy the land at this point, opposite what is no Old Wrexham Road (what a junction that would be today if the original bridge was built!), would never have been built. And where Overleigh roundabout now is, would it still be The Dingle? A shallow valley leading down to the River. Dee.86.184.58.47 (talk) 10:31, 8 March 2013 (UTC)Reply
