|
Underlined Text & Images are used for Hyper-Links to more Relevant
Information
©
Copyright 2006
Last modified:
September 07, 2006 |
| |
|
Gateway to the Border Reivers Country |
Newcastle upon Tyne &
Gateshead
Newcastle was given it's present name
by Robert the son of William the Conqueror who built a wood fort on
reaching the Tyne
in 1080,
after his father had invaded Britain in 1066.
Originally an important military
outpost of the Roman Empire located on Hadrian's Wall called Pons Aelius,
having previously been called Monkchester by the Anglo Saxons.
|
 |
|
|
It was rebuilt of stone almost a
hundred years later in 1177 and later became a County in the fifteenth
century when it became a trading centre, although it didn't become a City
officially until 1882 after it became the centre of the Industrial
Revolution.
Grey Street, Newcastle - I.Lindsay
|
When the centre of the City had
already rebuilt by the architects Dobson, Clayton and Grainger whose names
remain on the streets through the majestic buildings they erected.
Earl Grey stands 135 feet high at the
head of a street named after him overlooking the famous five now seven
Tyne bridges.
|
|
|
|
The most famous of which was built by
the same Teesside Bridge Engineers that erected the Sydney Harbour Bridge
completed in 1932.
Contrary to popular local myth
the Tyne Bridge although similar and completed first and opened by King
George V 1928, was designed last and not a prototype for down under, which was
in fact fabricated on Teesside and transported around the world for
assembly.
|
The latest Millennium Tyne Bridge was
opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 during her Jubilee Tour of Britain.
Being a pedestrian Bridge
between the Newcastle Quayside and the Baltic Arts Centre and Opera House on
the Gateshead side making it the Social and Cultural centre of the
revitalised twin Cities
|
|
|
Tyne Shipyard Cranes by Ivan Lindsay
|
Newcastle is located on the river
Tyne famous as the centre of the Industrial Revolution at a time when the
banks of the river were a mass of shipyards and Heavy Industrial workshops
which supplied the world with Coal, Ore and Machinery.
Only a core of original industry
remains having moved into Offshore Oil & Gas construction during the later
half of the Twentieth Century.
|
During their occupation of the north of England the
Romans built three bridges over the River Tyne at Newcastle, Corbridge and at
Chesters (Chollerford) on the North Tyne. Local historic researcher
Charles Steel tells that the original Roman bridge at Newcastle
was built by the Emperor Titus Aelius Hadrianus in 120AD, on virtually the
same site on which the present Swing Bridge stands
It was called Pons AcIii, the camp guarding it received
the same name and existed for a period of over 1,100 years until it was
virtually destroyed by the Great Fire of Newcastle in 1248, strenuous efforts
followed to rebuild with extensive repairs were made to it in 1370.
|
|
The stone bridge measured 711 feet in length, 15 feet in
width, and stood on twelve arches (later reduced to nine) with a number of
shops and houses constructed on the bridge, including a prison tower and a
chapel dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr.
On the night of November 16, 1771, storms and heavy
rainfall caused the river to flood, which resulted in the bridge being
washed away by the torrent of water passing between the stone piers below.
Two of the arches on the south side and one on the north side of the bridge
collapsed and, along with 23 houses, the bridge was completely destroyed.
In 1781 a new stone bridge with nine stone arches was
constructed with a width of 21 feet in width, which was widened to 35 feet
in 1801 to cope with the increasing traffic.
As the trade of Newcastle and the River Tyne developed
the stone bridge soon became a major obstruction to navigation and
eventually it was demolished and replaced with the unusual form of the
present Swine Bridge.
|
The 10 existing bridges across the Tyne within the
current Newcastle city boundaries, in chronological order are:
HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE (1849) By
the early 1840’s the rail network had extended up both the eastern and western
sides of Britain, but there was grave concern that unless passengers could be
carried without a break in the journey between London and Edinburgh on the
eastern route through Newcastle, the western route would control all of the
through traffic.
As a rail crossing of the Tyne at Newcastle appeared
so formidable, the railway authorities were seriously considering leaving
Newcastle out of the direct London/Edinburgh routes until Newcastle
Corporation and the railway companies commissioned the genius of Robert
Stephenson to carry out a rail/river‑crossing scheme.
The design was soon executed and by October 1846,
Hawkes Crawshay & Company of Gateshead began construction work on what was
to become the High Level Bridge. The length of the viaduct is 1,337 feet and
the height from high water mark to the carriageway section is 85 feet. Some
5,000 tons of cast and wrought iron were used in its construction and the
total cost of completion was £491,153.
|
The High Level Bridge & Swing Bridge
below
|
It was opened by Queen Victoria on September 27th
1849 and has always been recognised as a marvel of the railway age and a
monument to Stephenson's engineering skill and ingenuity.
SCOTSWOOD RAILWAY BRIDGE (1871)
Over the years, three rail bridges have crossed the River Tyne at Scotswood.
Although the first bridge was planned and designed in 1829 by John Blackmore, it
was not built until 1839 and it burned down in 1860 while the Board of Trade
were making an inspection of it.
It was replaced by a temporary structure which lasted
until 1871, when the present wrought iron hog‑back bridge was built on the
site.
The bridges were an important link across the Tyne
for the transportation of raw materials for many of the heavy industries
associated with the E1swick and Scotswood areas during the late 1800s and
early 1900s. The railway track was lifted in the 1980s and the bridge is now
disused. with public access forbidden.
|
|
SWING BRIDGE (1876) Designed
by John F. Ure, and built by Sir William G. Armstrong & Company of Elswick on
behalf of the Tyne Improvement Commission it was designed in such a way as to
allow it to swivel open on a centre pier driven by means of steam‑powered
hydraulics. An average of one ton of coal per week was used to lower the
mechanism until Electric pumps replaced this system in 1960.
As the bridge rotated open to would allow ships to pass
up‑river supplying coals to the heavy industries upstream, including Armstrong's
own Elswick works, it was opened on July 17th 1876 at a cost of
£240,000. It was then the largest swing bridge ever built being 560 feet in
length and 47.5 feewide with the swinging section being 281 feet in length,
weighing 1,450 tons. It had its busiest ever year in 1924, when it swung open
more than 6,000 times.
NEWBURN BRIDGE (1893) This
is the shortest and most westerly bridge within the present city boundaries of
Newcastle between Newburn and Ryton. Built by Head Wrightson of Thornaby‑on
‑Tees for the Newburn Bridge Company, it is a simple four‑span lattice steel
girder bridge with riveted trusses supported by concrete filled wrought iron
piers.
Measuring 18 feet in width and 412 feet in length,
standing 21 feet above high water mark having been originally a toll bridge,
with toll keepers house which bas long since disappeared having stood at the
Newburn end of the bridge.
KING EDWARD VII BRIDGE (1906)
Originally trains using the High Level Bridge to reach Newcastle Central station
had to leave the station in the same direction they had entered, which usually
involved the tedious task of reversing.
The construction of the King Edward Bridge provided
four more rail tracks, thus forming a loop through the station, which
enabled trains to enter or leave from either side and thus case rail
congestion.
It was designed and engineered by Charles A.
Harrison, the Chief Civil Engineer of the North Eastern Railway with a total
length of the bridge is 1,150 feet and 112 feet above high water mark and
built by the Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company at a cost of £500,000,
being opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on July 10th
1906.
|
|
TYNE BRIDGE (1928)
Recognised throughout the world and considered a symbol of Tyneside, the New
Tyne Bridge was begun in 1925 and opened three years later, being officially
opened by King George V and Queen Mary it on October 10th at a cost
£694,000.
|
|
The Ministry of Transport had commissioned the bridge as
part of a scheme involving the reconstruction of the Great North Road to
allow better access through Newcastle and alleviate the continual hold‑ups
across the Swing Bridge below.
The design involved the construction of two main granite
pillars on each side of the river with a parabolic arched steel lattice
framework weighing 3,500 tons which could respond to movement factors by
huge steel bearing pins which worked like giant hinges at the base of each
of the granite pillars. Construction was carried out by the Middlesbrough
firm of Dorman Long & Co., who were already engaged in preparatory work for
the larger and similarly designed Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.
|
SCOTSWOOD BRIDGE (1967)
More than 5,000 people turned out for the opening of the first Scotswood
Suspension Bridge, completed on April 16, 1831 at a cost of £ 15,000. Designed
by John and Benjamin Green of Newcastle, two graceful piers were constructed in
the Norman style of architecture to accommodate the elegant structure.
The distance between the points of suspension was 370
feet with two half arcs of 130 feet each with the total length of the bridge
being 670 feet. There were four suspending chains consisting of flat steel bars
with strong connecting bolts.
Originally a toll bridge the charges stopped when
Newcastle Corporation purchased it in 1905 for the sum of £36,300, it was
replaced in 1967 by the present steel arched structure, which has a 330‑feet
steel arch span with a suspended box girder deck.
QUEEN ELIZABETH II BRIDGE (1980)
This modern bridge is based on the design of the Ballachulish Bridge crossing
the mouth of Loch Leven, in western Scotland, built between February 1976 and
early 1979, and specifically constructed at a cost of £5,000,000 to carry the
Tyne and Wear Metro across the river.
REDHEUGH BRIDGE (1983) The
first Redheugh Bridge was constructed in 1871, engineered by Thomas Bouch who
was also the designer of the ill‑fated first Tay Bridge in Scotland.
The bridge was replaced in 1983 by the present modern
structure, constructed by Edmund Nuttall Ltd at a cost of £15,350,000 and opened
in by The Princess of Wales.
BLAYDON BRIDGE (1990) Built
as part of the A1 London to Edinburgh highway Western Bypass around Newcastle to
alleviate heavy traffic congestion through Gosforth and central Newcastle and
the Tyne Tunnel.
Construction began in November 1987 and the newest bridge
across the River Tyne was officially opened by The Queen on December 1st
1990.
|
|
Http: