Introduction

This branch was built to serve James Wrigley's Bridge Hall Mill. It was also to serve Heap Bridge Goods and Yates, Duxford & Sons's Heap Bridge Mill No 1 and later their Heap Bridge Mill No 2. Connections to the mills were fairly convoluted. - Heap Bridge Mill No 1 was accessed via a reversing spur in the north of the Heap Bridge Goods site. (Duxbury's (Garfield) Siding?) - Bridge Hall Mill was at the end of the branch, served by zig-zag lines on the east bank of the river and higher level tightly curved sidings crossing the river. - Heap Bridge Mill No 2 was served by an extension of the zig zig line serving Bridge Hall Mill. (Duxbury's (Greendip) Siding?) - Broad Oak Mill was served by the extreme north end of the sidings on the west side of the river. Bridge Hall Mill closed to paper making in 1924. Heap Bridge Goods closed to the public in 1967 but the branch remained open until 1973 for mill traffic. On the private sidings (and making some use of the disused public branch) steam working at Duxbury's mill continued until 1974. Closure of the mill was in the 1980s.