Ballaugh Bridge
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
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{{Infobox historic site
| name = Ballaugh Bridge
| image = Ballaugh Bridge 2013 IMG B00017.jpg
| caption =
| location =
| built = c. 1739
| coordinates = {{coord|54|18|34.8|N|4|32|29.2|W |display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Isle of Man
}}
Ballaugh BridgeDaily Express page 58 Monday 2 June 2008 is located on the primary A3 Castletown to Ramsey road and adjacent to the road junctions with the A10 Ballaugh to Ramsey coast road and the tertiary C37 Ballaugh Glen Road in the parish of Ballaugh in the Isle of Man.
Description
Ballaugh Bridge is a hump-backed road bridge over the Ravensdale River,Brown’s Directory for the Isle of Man page 452 BALLAUGH Brown & Sons (1894) The Isle of Man Times Press located in the village of Ballaugh.
Motor-sport heritage
File:Ballaugh bridge IMG 0111.JPG Castletown to Ramsey Road at Ballaugh Bridge with the C37 Ballaugh Glen Road and the A10 Ballaugh Station Road]]
Ballaugh Bridge was part of the 52.15 mile Highland Course (amended to 40.38 miles in 1906TT Pioneers – Early Car Racing in the Isle of Man page 22 Robert Kelly, Mercury Asset Management (1996) (1st Edition) The Manx Experience, The Alden Press ISBN No 1 873120 61 3) and the 37.50 Mile Four Inch Course used for automobile racing including the 1904 Gordon Bennett Trial and the RAC Tourist Trophy car races held between 1905 and 1922.Isle of Man Car Races 1904–1953 page 30 by Neil Hanson (2015) Lily Publications {{ISBN|978-1-907945-36-6}}
It was also the western edge of the Sandygate Loop for the 1904 Gordon Bennett British Eliminating Trial and the 1905 Tourist Trophy Race for automobiles. The 1906 Tourist Trophy Race used the Short Highroads Course, with the abandonment of the Sandygate Loop in favour of the A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road from Ballacraine corner to Ramsey.
In 1911, the Four Inch Course for automobiles was first used by the Auto-Cycling Union for the Isle of Man TT motor-cycle races. This included Ballaugh BridgeTT Special page 24 THE T.T. MOUNTAIN COURSE edited by G.S. Davison Wednesday 14 June 1961 “(7) Ballaugh Bridge” and the course later became known as the 37.73 mile Isle of Man TT Mountain Course which has been used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT Races and from 1923 for the Manx Grand Prix races.The History of the Manx Grand Prix page 7, 8, 9 by Bill Snelling Amulree Publishing(1998) Manx Heritage Foundation {{ISBN|1 901508 04 8}}
Road improvements
The Bridge was subject to road widening and reprofiling during the winter of 1953/1954 for the 1954 Isle of Man TT races including the removal of a garden wallIsle of Man Examiner page 6 Friday 24 May 1954 of the adjacent Ballaugh Railway Hotel (now the Raven Hotel).Isle of Man Times page 6 Saturday 29 May 1954 “Ballaugh Bridge has been greatly modified.” Ballaugh Bridge is the only remaining hump-backed bridge on the TT Course after the removal of Sulby Bridge in the 1920s and Ballig Bridge in 1935.Isle of Man Weekly Times dated 25 May 1935
Roadside memorial
Located near to Ballaugh Bridge is a road-side memorial to Karl Gall, a member of the pre-war works BMW motor-cycle teamThe Tourist Trophy in Old Photographs Collected by Bill Snelling. Page 58 1st Edition (1994) Sutton Publishing {{ISBN|1-84015-059-9}} who died from injuries suffered after crashing near to the bridge during evening practice for the 1939 Isle of Man TT races.Isle of Man Times page 17 Saturday 10 June 1939Daily Express page 1 Wednesday 14 June 1939
Gallery
File:HerveGantnerTouristTrophy2010 BallaughBridge.jpg|alt=Hervé Gantner wearing a orange high-visibility vest riding a motorcycle on Ballaugh Bridge|Hervé Gantner riding a motorcycle on Ballaugh Bridge.
Sources
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