Tidal Thames Bridges

[LURCHER]

Went down the Thames from Putney yesterday and noticed that there was a bale of straw hanging from a bridge that was being worked on ,one of our party thoght it was some old custom about working on bridges . Anyone know the real story .
A good trip except for someone jumping off London Bridge and not being found which put a bit of a dampner on the afternoon .Lots of police fire RNLI activity .

[timw]

The bale of hay is hanging off Chelsea Bridge at the moment while it's undergoing some refurbishment.

The bale of hay is some ancient custom/law, but I can't remember the details

[roycruse]

The bale is a traditional warning for ships and boats passing underneath that repairs are underway.

[John Kennett]

It shows that there is reduced headroom under that arch. Normally the scaffolding is a bit of a give-away too!

John

[Loose Moose]

Goes back to days before lifejackets. Man working on bridge, man slips, falls in water, his mate(hopefully) cuts rope, down goes straw, drowning man hangs on to bale, saved.

[Searider]

I always thought it meant that the arch was closed to navigation?

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Searider

I always thought it meant that the arch was closed to navigation?

Every day's a school day!

From the PLA web site:
An inverted triangle of three red discs or three red lights hanging from the arch of a bridge mean that the arch is closed to navigation. A bundle of straw or a white light hanging from the arch of a bridge indicates that the arch has restricted headroom.

John

[Searider]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

Every day's a school day!

From the PLA web site:
An inverted triangle of three red discs or three red lights hanging from the arch of a bridge mean that the arch is closed to navigation. A bundle of straw or a white light hanging from the arch of a bridge indicates that the arch has restricted headroom.

John

Cheers John,

When I was a teenager passing along the London Thames in my parents boat we always used to avoid the arches with bales.

I remember the bit about the inverted triangle now that you've jogged my memory.