Scotswood Road Bridge (old)

HER Number:
4133

District:
Gateshead and Newcastle

Site Name:
Scotswood Road Bridge (old)

Place:
Blaydon, Scotswood

Map Sheet:
NZ16SE NZ26SW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Road Transport Site

Site Type: Specific:
Road Bridge

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
The present Scotswood Road Bridge is a bowstring girder bridge built in 1967 to a design approved by the Royal Fine Art Commission. Its predecessor, however was a much more elegant affair; a chain suspension bridge. It was described in its early days as being "a situation more picturesque and striking than the one it occupies could scarcely have been selected". The bridge was built for the Scotswood Bridge Company, the architect being John Green. Its construction commenced on 21 July 1829 and was completed on 16 April 1831. It was 530 feet long and the road 20 feet wide. The piers were of Norman design and the headway under the bridge was a mere 18 feet above high water. It is marked as a Toll Bridge on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey plan (c.1895), with the addition of a Toll House at the northern end. Unfortunately it proved unequal to the needs of modern traffic and was demolished. All that remains is the base of the north abutment alongside the new bridge.

Easting:
1998

Northing:
6364

Grid Reference:
NZ19986364

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 4133 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, 1864, 6 inch scale, Northumberland, 97 Pers. Comm. I. Ayris I. Ayris & S.M. Linsley, 1994, A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Tyne and Wear, p 17; N.G. Rippeth, 1990, Blaydon in old picture postcards; Malcolm L Scaife, 1974, Newcastle Old and New