by Nick Colley, chairman of Northwich and District Heritage Society

On the morning of Friday, February 2 1917 Northwich suffered one of its most severe and disruptive subsidences for many years.

A bus was passing over the Dane Bridge when the driver felt the back wheels sink as he crossed the bridge into the town centre.

Fortunately he was able to carry on and cross the bridge with his passengers, himself and his bus unharmed.

As soon as he had crossed a gradual collapse of the road on the Leftwich side took place which continued throughout the day.

The event drew crowds of spectators to view the growing hole and local photographers rushed out to record the scene.

The hole widened out to become 80 feet long and 70 feet wide and a full 10 feet deep.

This section of road was noted at the time to be ‘the most treacherous in mid Cheshire’, as a result of the number of subsidences occurring here, and the road had only been last repaired a mere six months before.

This time it was even worse and was apparently the worst single subsidence for more than 20 years.

The wooden buildings alongside the bridge were typical of the time as it wasn't worth building anything more substantial along this stretch.

The two nearest the bridge were of course, the mostly badly affected. Fortunately the one nearest was empty and to let at the time.

It had previously been used as the premises of house decorator and plumber Thomas Hughes, who had died some years earlier.

The one next door was pitched over into its neighbour and left in a precarious position, this one was known as ‘The Curiosity Shop’ and was the business premises of councillor Pickering, who was an antique furniture dealer.

The County Surveyor attended with a team to begin repairs. They began filling the hole with ‘lime, refuse and cinders’ brought to the site by boat.

The blame for the collapse was placed on a combination of river dredging and brine pumping. The bridge and road were closed for some time as the repairs were made.

For more local history photographs visit the Northwich History Past and Present Facebook group