Newcastle upon Tyne and the Tyne Bridges

If you can't see my menu bar on the left Please click the button.

Click to add this page to your favourites

Newcastle and its Bridges

Newcastle upon Tyne lies at the heart of the North East of England. The city was originally founded as a Roman City on the River Tyne. The city has long depended on the river and it is fitting that the city's most famous landmark should be the Tyne Bridge. Opened in 1928 it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Just upstream of the Tyne Bridge lie Armstrong's Swing Bridge, Stephenson's High Level Bridge, and three other bridges, all opened by royalty. Just downstream lies the newest of the bridges, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge I took this photo' looking upstream towards the Tyne Bridges a few years ago, before the quayside was redeveloped and revitalised.

For more information about the bridges over the River Tyne, please read on.

Early History

There has been a crossing over the River Tyne at Newcastle since Roman times. Its importance is reflected in the Roman name for the settlement; Pons Aelius. This earliest bridge, built in the 120's AD by the emperor Aelius Hadrian, was probably of stone, with a wooden roadway, and was sited on, or near, the present Swing Bridge site. This bridge survived for 1100 years.

In 1248, during the Great Fire of Newcastle, the old bridge was destroyed. Work started on a new stone bridge, funded by the town of Newcastle, and by the church, particularly the Bishop of Durham, whose land lay to the south. There was a chapel dedicated to St Thomas a Becket on the bridge.

In 1339, part of the bridge was washed away in a flood. 120 people drowned; probably residents of houses on the bridge itself.

By the eighteenth century, the bridge had developed into a structure with three towers, twelve arches and numerous houses and shops. One of the towers was, for a time, used as a prison. The bridge also carried a Blue Stone; the ancient mark of the town boundary between Newcastle on the north of the river and Gateshead on the south. Interestingly, the stone lay two thirds of the way across the river from Newcastle, indicating the greater political importance of Newcastle over Gateshead. The Blue Stone is now in the keep of the castle from which the city gets its name. Being constructed of many piers and arches, the narrow bridge was a significant obstruction to the river as it flowed under. During a serious flood on the night of 16^th November 1771, three arches of the old bridge were washed away resulting in six deaths. The fact that the part of the bridge washed away was that part to the south of the Blue Stone suggests that the Durham part of the bridge was not as well built as the Newcastle part.

The old bridge was dismantled, during which numerous Roman relics were found, and a temporary bridge erected. A large ferry crossed the river during the building of this bridge.

Building of a new stone bridge was begun on 22^nd July 1773 and was finished in 1781. This bridge had nine arches. Three of these were the responsibility of the Bishop of Durham and, as with the earlier bridge, the Blue Stone marked the boundary. Despite being widened in 1810 from 21 feet 6 inches to 33 feet 6 inches, it was still too narrow for the traffic flow. Furthermore, its nine low arches blocked shipping access up the river to the engineering works at Elswick. In 1866, another temporary bridge was erected and demolition of the Tyne Bridge commenced. It was to be replaced by the Swing Bridge

Robert Stephenson's High Level Bridge

Robert Stephenson (1803-1859) was the son of George Stephenson (1781-1848), mining engineer and builder of the world's first steam powered railway between Stockton and Darlington.

Two of Robert Stephenson's bridges; the High Level at Newcastle and the Royal Borders Bridge on the Scottish Border at Berwick upon Tweed (opened 1850), enabled London and Edinburgh to be connected by rail for the first time.

The High Level Bridge, seen from Gateshead with the Cathedral and Castle Keep of Newcastle in the background

The brilliant High Level Bridge is a two tiered construction carrying the railway above and road traffic below. Building started in October 1846 and the bridge opened to traffic in 1849, with an opening ceremony by Queen Victoria on 27^th September. Built at a cost of £243,000, its roadway is 85 feet, and the railway 112 feet, above high water. Traffic could therefore pass across the river without a steep descent to the old bridge and an equally arduous ascent on the other side. On the road bridge, a toll of a halfpenny was charged to pedestrians, and 3d to a horse drawn carriage. The bridge has piers of solid masonry, built on piles driven 40 feet onto rock under the river bed. The six cast iron arches are each 125 feet in length and represented the first use of curved iron in the City. 5000 tons of iron were used in the construction.

The High Level Bridge was saved from disaster on 24^th June 1866 when Robert Brown's steam flour mill burned down under the bridge. The Newcastle Naval Reserve built a platform from which water was directed onto the bridge. The timber decking was damaged by the flames, but the bridge was saved.

The bridge was strengthened in 1922 to allow trams to use the road level, but otherwise the bridge is exactly as originally designed.

The High Level Bridge, seen from upstream on the Newcastle side

The Redheugh Bridges: 1871, 1901, 1983

May 1871 saw the opening of the first Redheugh Bridge. This bridge of cantilevered iron girders on brick piers was designed by Thomas Bouch who was also responsible for the Tay Bridge at Dundee, Scotland.

The bridge was reconstructed in 1901.

	The third, and current Redheugh Bridge was opened alongside its predecessor in 1983.
It is a graceful concrete structure.

The older bridge was dismantled immediately after construction of the new bridge.

Armstrong's Swing Bridge

	The Swing Bridge viewed from the roof of the Castle Keep ...
... and from downstream with the High Level Bridge in the background.

The swing bridge replaced the old stone bridge. Construction began on 23^rd September 1868 and the bridge opened to traffic on 25^th June 1876. Designed and built by Sir WG Armstrong at a cost of £230,000, it is constructed of a wrought iron superstructure on stone and concrete piers. It comprises a 24 feet carriageway and two 8 feet pavements. It utilized hydraulic power to open the bridge by rotating on its central pillar, allowing passage of vessels up the river. The original hydraulic machinery has been replaced by electric equipment. Although seldom operated nowadays, the machinery remains in full working order.

King Edward VII Bridge (1906)

This railway bridge was opened by King Edward VII himself. It provides the second of the two mainline rail crossings over the river.

The Tyne Bridge (King George V Bridge)

A new road crossing was required because the increasing volume of traffic was causing congestion on the existing bridges, not helped by the trams on the High Level Bridge and the delays caused by frequent opening of the Swing Bridge for shipping.

Although initially discussed by Newcastle and Gateshead councils well before the turn of the century, planning did not get underway until 1924. The Act of Parliament which was required to allow construction was made law in August of the same year.

The bridge is constructed of a single arched span, mounted at each end on steel pin bearings to allow for changes in temperature and load. Designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson, it was built between 1925 and 1929 by Dorman, Long and Company of Middlesbrough. It was constructed from above so as to cause no disruption to shipping in the river below.

The road lies at 93 feet above the water and the quayside. The bridge is 1254 feet in length. Construction of the approaches to the bridge required demolition of numerous buildings in the area. Some of the retaining walls of the approach roads were faced with sandstone salvaged from the old Newcastle Gaol which was being demolished at the time.

The arch was completed in early 1928 and the bridge was officially opened by King George V and Queen Mary on October 10^th 1928. Plaques on the pathways across the bridge commemorate its royal opening. The stone towers on the Gateshead side were not finished at the time of opening, but were completed the following year.

There is a public lift in the tower between the quayside and the footpath on the bridge itself.

The Queen Elizabeth II (Metro) Bridge

This bridge carries Tyneside's Metro urban railway system across the river. It was completed in 1981 and was opened by HM The Queen.

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge

On Monday 20 November 2000, the River Tyne gained a new bridge when the superstructure of the new Gateshead Millennium Bridge was carried up the river and positioned on its piers.

This unique and revolutionary bridge, designed for pedestrians and cyclists, will link the new Gateshead Quays development with the rejuvenated Newcastle Quayside. It is the first bridge over the Tyne specifically designed for cyclists. It is constructed of two steel arches; a suspension arch and a curved deck facing downstream. The two arches are connected by rods and the bridge will open for passage of ships by tilting like the visor on a motorcyclist’s helmet. It is planned for completion by summer 2001.

The bridge is supported by two concrete piers which were constructed in coffer dams. Each pier is built on 14 steel reinforced concrete piles which extend 18m to bedrock. The piers are 47 m long and taper in width from 15 m to 8 m. They contain 19,000 tonnes of concrete and 650 tonnes of steel reinforcement. They house the pivots and hydraulic rams which will rotate the bridge. In February 2000, at the insistence of the Port of Tyne Harbourmaster, 16 steel piles were driven around the piers at a cost of £1.3 million to protect the bridge from a colliding ship of 4000 tonnes travelling at four knots. The designers of the bridge felt that these unattractive piles detracted from its overall aesthetic appearance.

The arch sections were welded and assembled at the AMEC Hadrian Yard in Wallsend, downstream of the bridge site.

Then the bridge was lifted out of the Hadrian Yard and, after two planned moves were abandoned due to bad weather, was finally transported six miles upstream to be located on its piers on 20 November 2000. Transportation of the 1100 tonne load was undertaken by SMIT International using a giant floating crane Asian Hercules II. Weighing 10,560 tons and towering 350 feet high, on a barge 250 feet long and 100 feet wide, this is the world’s second largest floating crane and the largest vessel ever to pass up the River Tyne to Newcastle Quayside.

The span of the bridge is 126 m, and the height 50 m. This gives a clearance when the bridge is tilted of 25 m; the same as that of the Tyne Bridge. The two arches are connected by 18 suspension rods and contain 850 tonnes of steel. The deck has two parallel sections. The inner section is for pedestrians and is of solid steel with perforated steel bench seats at intervals. This is separated by a steel fence from the outer section which is for cyclists. This has a perforated steel floor allowing glimpses of the river beneath. The bridge is white by day but, at night, programmable multi-colour change luminaires will give a spectacular light show.

The bridge will tilt approximately 200 times per year. Eight electric motors with a total power of 440 kW will take four minutes to complete the operation at a cost of £3.60. The deck incorporates traps designed to catch litter when the bridge opens.

The total cost of construction of the bridge was £22 million, of which £9.2 million came from the Millennium Commission.

Boats sailed under the new bridge for the first time in June 2001 when a party of Gateshead schoolchildren passed under. At 2 PM On Monday September 17 2001 a civic party crossed the bridge following which, at 2 PM the bridge opened to pedestrian traffic. An hour later the first cyclists were allowed across.

On 7 May 2002, the new bridge was officially delared open by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on a visit to Newcastle and Gateshead as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations. The bridge had been raised and a flotilla of seventeen boats had passed under. The Queen pushed the switch to lower the bridge following which she crossed on foot from Gateshead to Newcastle and back again. Despite a cold and dull day, as shown in the pictures above, a large crowd witnessed the event.