We are due to finish building the new Chelmer Waterside bridge in April.

Before we can finish building the bridge, we need to give it a name. We asked key groups in Chelmsford to each submit a name, and we are asking you to vote for which name we should choose.

You can find more information about the groups and the naming competition on the Chelmsford City Life website.

The names you can vote for are:

Jabez Church is a brilliant Chelmsfordian you may not have heard of. His father, (Jabez Church Snr) was one of Britain’s first gas engineers, involved in planning and setting up Chelmsford Gasworks. Jabez Church Jnr went on to even greater things. He moved to Chelmsford in 1839 to become Superintendent and Manager of the gasworks and became one of the foremost engineers of the Victorian period. The municipal authorities in Dublin referred to him as “one of the cleverest engineers in the three kingdoms” and his remarkable achievements were formally recognised with honours including the ‘Freedom of London’ and as President of the Society of Engineers.

This name has been submitted by the our heritage team to mark Waterside’s role in the Industrial Revolution.

Vote for Jabez Church Bridge Approach

Timespan is a word familiar to all of us and time is an ever-present and inescapable part of our lives. Time connects past memories with future aspirations, always flowing in one direction, much like a river. Sailing down that river, we grow, we learn, and become better people, striving toward a better future. The River Chelmer is the point of origin for this city, and its flow of time, and what spans a river other than a bridge? By using the name Timespan Bridge, we cross the flow of time. The bridge connects the Essex Record Office (symbolising our past) and the Waterside development, (symbolising Chelmsford’s journey towards the future) with the present, as symbolised by the city centre.

This name has been submitted by Ignite Chelmsford, the city’s creative community.

Vote for Timespan Bridge Road

This name honours John Rennie, the designer of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. A renowned canal architect, Rennie was responsible for many waterways of this era. The opening in 1797 of this important connection to Maldon and the North Sea initiated the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in the then very much agricultural town of Chelmsford. The new waterway carried materials and goods of all kinds to Chelmsford, and the cost of coal is said to have halved when the navigation opened. Although its use declined after the development of the railways, coal continued to be brought to Chelmsford by water until the First World War.

This name has been submitted by the Chelmsford Civic Society.

Vote for John Rennie Bridge Road

Our story is simple. This bridge has the widest span of all the bridges in Chelmsford and is an important part of the city’s largest urban redevelopment site at Chelmer Waterside, where its iconic bow structure is an appropriate landmark. In replacing the previous heritage Bailey Bridge, it was necessary to provide adequate river clearance for additional river use and avoid a bulky deck structure. The use of a bow arch form very neatly satisfies all these requirements, and so the bow should be acknowledged in the naming.

This name has been submitted by Essex Waterways.

Vote for Bow Bridge Road

The final suggestion is inspired by the geography of Chelmsford. Confluence Bridge Approach reflects the joining of two of Chelmsford’s much-loved rivers: the River Can and the River Chelmer. These watercourses, which join by the bridge, have played an important role in the city’s development and even the origin of its name. Chelmsford was previously known as Ceolmaer’s Ford, thought to originate from an East Saxon who gave his name to a fording place across one of the rivers. Over time, Ceolmaer has become Chelmer, and the city, Chelmsford. The Chelmer and Can still shape the layout of today’s city, just as they have for hundreds of years.

This name has been submitted by Chelmsford City Council.

Vote for Confluence Bridge Approach

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