Rainbow Bridge, Foxton Locks, Leicestershire
This bridge is just over 200 years old, and would have been built at the same time as Foxton Locks, near Market Harborough in south Leicestershire. The parapet was rebuilt in 1927, as recorded by a date-stone. Canals normally only had a towpath on one side, and this is where the horses who towed the canal boats would have walked. Where a towpath changes from one side of the canal to the other, as it does here, you need a means of getting the horses across. And this bridge with its gently sloping ramps - still with the original cobblestones - would have allowed them to do that. It is known as a turnover bridge.
Rainbow Bridge, Foxton Locks, Leicestershire
This bridge is just over 200 years old, and would have been built at the same time as Foxton Locks, near Market Harborough in south Leicestershire. The parapet was rebuilt in 1927, as recorded by a date-stone. Canals normally only had a towpath on one side, and this is where the horses who towed the canal boats would have walked. Where a towpath changes from one side of the canal to the other, as it does here, you need a means of getting the horses across. And this bridge with its gently sloping ramps - still with the original cobblestones - would have allowed them to do that. It is known as a turnover bridge.