25 years on: Lancaster man’s amazing photographs show controversial bridge being built

And there to capture it being built and opened was Dave Clark whose pictures were part of his ambitious project to take 20,000 photographs of people and places of the Lancaster district in the new millennium.

As A Little English City celebrates its 25th anniversary, we are featuring some of Dave’s images throughout this year.

The Millennium Bridge was the largest single element of the River Lune Millennium Park project completed between 1997 and March 2001.

Construction work on the bridge began in late 1999 and continued throughout 2000, with the official opening taking place in February 2001.

“The pictures were taken periodically throughout the year as a reference point for the progression of the year,” wrote Dave in his photographer’s diary.

However, progress on the bridge construction was slower than first thought, as Dave’s diary from September 2000 recalled: “Moving on to the bridge I returned to find little had been done. The final sections were due to be moved while I was away, but no such luck.

"I met a man who had been waiting for the past few weeks with his video camera as he witnessed one delay after another. I hung about and then returned after lunch for the final section being lifted into place.

“Just as it landed, one workman with a sense of humour peddled a child’s bike across the bridge only to be met with a hurl of abuse from his boss.

"He never made it across, but the picture made the front of the Lancaster Guardian.”

The new bridge wasn’t without its controversy either with many people not happy with its design and construction, just as, about a century earlier, many Lancaster residents had criticised the building

of the Ashton Memorial.

SEE MORE: 25 years on: one man's amazing photographic record involving 20,000 pictures of the year 2000 in Lancaster and Morecambe

All of the photographs taken by Dave for A Little English City can be viewed online at https://djclark.com/2000/ and copies of his book, are still available to order via the website.

The pictures are also archived at Lancaster City Museum which hosted an exhibition of them in 2001.