Colin Edmondson - historian for the River Weaver Navigation Society - reports that the bridge was originally called Navigation Bridge, and was initially built to provide uninterrupted passage across the river while the adjacent Town Bridge was converted from a fixed girder bridge to a swing bridge. The new Town Bridge and Hayhurst Bridge were of almost identical design.

The bridge was the first bridge in Britain designed to be electrically operated, although Colin reports that the electrical supply was not connected until May 1899. It was also the first bridge on the mainland to have a large proportion of its weight - 255 tons of a total of 305 tones - supported on a sectional pontoon immersed in the river. The area used to be subject to subsidence due to pumping of brine from the salt beds beneath Northwich. To allow for this the slewing ring is supported on a series of piles with screw jacks allowing for adjustment.

The bridge consisted of 1 span with asymmetric bowstring lattice girders with steel gates at each end. the control cabin is wooden framed. The bridge is 10 m wide with a 6m wide carriageway. The pontoons are m in diameter. The bowstring truss is 5m high and the whole bridge weighs 429 tons. It turns on 76 conical bearings and the bridge has a pontoon beneath the centre of gravity. This pontoon supports around 66% of the dead weight with the rest supported by iron screw piles.

in 2004 there was significant upgrade carried out at a cost of £3.5 million.

The new Town Bridge adjacent to Hayhurst Bridge opened in 1899.

The bridge carries the B5337. It was closed for 9 months in 2004 for £33.5 million refit.

The number reference in the bridge name refers to the sequence of locations of movable bridges on the Weaver Navigation, starting from Weston Point.

My thanks to Colin Edmondson for sharing his list of movable bridges on the Weaver based on 10 years of research.