Posted on Thursday 4th December 2025
Work to install the reinforced concrete saddle on Morfe Mill Bridge in Enville is nearing completion.
Good progress has been made to strengthen a road bridge in Enville.
Staffordshire County Council’s highways crews have been working on reinforcing the Morfe Mill bridge, which sits on Morfe House Lane.
This project, which started in October, involves installing a concrete saddle and new parapets and undertaking brickwork repairs and repointing to extend the bridge’s lifespan.
It also includes to work to protect the bridge against scour, which happens when fast-moving water washes away material from around a bridge’s foundations, thus weakening them.
Work to install the reinforced concrete saddle is nearing completion.
Morfe Mill Bridge is one of over 500 structures in Staffordshire that are estimated to be more than 100 years old. It is often the case that bridges of this age have no historical records, which presents challenges to engineers when they carry out any reinforcement work.
Whilst excavating on this bridge, engineers consequently discovered that its internal structure was different from what they planned for and parts of it had deteriorated more than expected.
Because of this, crews have had to adjust both the strengthening construction plan and project timeline.
These changes, combined with recent poor weather, mean the £300,000 scheme is now expected to be completed by mid-January.
Patrick Allen, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Support Member for Highways, said:
“It's great to see good progress being made on the strengthening of Morfe Mill Bridge.
“As with any major roadworks, crews can sometimes uncover unexpected issues once the ground is opened up and, in this case, we found parts of the bridge were in worse condition than suggested by the little data we had. What matters is that our engineers identified the problem early and are working hard to make the bridge safe and complete the job as efficiently as possible.
“I’d like to thank local residents and road users for their patience while this essential work is carried out.”
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