The River Tees forms the traditional border between Yorkshire and County Durham, passes through the Teesside Urban area built-up area, and has many crossings. The natural low-lying landscape of the surrounding landscape together with the development of shipping on the water way has led a number of unusual bridges being built.[1]
History of crossings
An early crossing of the Tees was made by the Romans, with the construction of a bridge at Piercebridge, along with a corresponding fortress.[2] The bridge was built on the route of Dere Street, and as a result it likely saw a great deal of military traffic going between the fortress at York and the northern frontier.[3] It was first built in wood around 90 AD, before being rebuilt in stone, possibly when the first bridge washed away. The use of the bridge may of continued into the sub-Roman period.[2]
Crossings of the Tees continued to be important in the journey from north to south, and vice versa, along the east coast, during the medieval period.[4] During the 13th century it was described as "the major obstacle to speedy travel out of the diocese of Durham southwards", with the contemporary fords, bridges and ferries proving particularly inconvenient in the winter period.[5] This included the Great North Road, for which the Croft Bridge was built in the 13th or 14th centuries. Yarm Bridge was built around 1400, by bishop Skirlaw.[4]
In 1771 a major flood on the Tees, along with others in the North-East, caused major damage to the river's bridges, completely destroying some. The Wynch Bridge, Supposedly the oldest suspension bridge in Europe, dating from 1741, was lifted from its moorings. The bridge in Gilmonby was recorded as being destroyed after having only been fully operational for 3 years. On the other hand, The medieval Yarm Bridge was not affected by the flood, despite every other building in the town being damaged.[6]
With the industrialisation of the area through the 19th century, many new bridges where needed closer to the ports mouth.[5] When the Stockton and Darlington railway, first opened in 1825, it was realised that the staiths at Stockton where two small to export the desired amount of coal. The decision was made to start exporting closer to the rivers mouth on the other bank, at Port Darlington (later Middlesbrough). This required the building of the first suspension railway bridge.[a] This moved the commercial centre of gravity of Teesside further down stream, where many future bridges would be built.[7]
By the end of that century there were 21 principal firms on and adjacent to the Tees in the Stockton and Thornaby area, with 36 firms in the Middlesbrough area. This led to the development of two of the most famous bridges on the river, The Transporter Bridge, in 1911, and the Newport Bridge, in 1934, both trying to balance the needs of travellers across the river with shipping up and down it.[5]
List
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The following is a list of crossings of the River Tees, heading downstream, from source to its mouth in the North Sea. This includes road, rail, pipe and foot/cycle bridges and fords.[8][9]
^Due to design flaws, this first bridge swayed far to much and had to be supported by wooden "Starlings". Even still the sway was so much that wagons had chained 9 meters apart so that weight was distributed evenly across the bridge.[7]
Citations
^"Bridges over the Tees" (PDF). myice.ice.org.uk. Institute of Civil Engineers. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
^ a bFitzpatrick, A. P.; Scott, Peter R. (1999). "The Roman Bridge at Piercebridge, North Yorkshire-County Durham". Britannia. 30: 111–132. doi:10.2307/526675. JSTOR 526675. S2CID 162361828.
^"Bridge over troubled water: Roman finds from the Tees at Piercebridge and beyond | The Past". The Past. Current Archarology. 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
^ a bHarrison, David (7 October 2004). The Bridges of Medieval England: Transport and Society 400-1800. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-155679-1.
^ a b cWarwick, Tosh. "The Politics of Bridge Building: The Long Wait for the Tees (Newport) Bridge". Cleveland & Teesside Local History Society. 1 January 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
^Rennison, Robert William (2019). "The Great Inundation of 1771 and the Rebuilding of the North-East's Bridges" (PDF). Archaeologia Aeliana. 29: 269291. doi:10.5284/1061067. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
^ a b c d e fBetteney, Alan (2019). "Crossing the Tees: Fords, Ferries and Bridges" (PDF). River Tees Rediscovered. Tees Archaeology: 31–32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
^"Bridges on the Tees". Bridges on the Tyne. 2001. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
^"OpenData support | OS Tools & Support".
^"Birkdale Footbridge". Bridges on the Tyne. 2001. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
^"A new Bridge". The Journal. 3 August 1844. p. 2. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^"Winch Bridge". Bridges on the Tyne. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
^White, Andrew (13 February 2022). "What's the story behind County Durham's wobbly bridge - and its tragic history?". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
^ a b"Disputes, sewage and a great big party: Six of the best bridges". The Northern Echo. 2 April 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
^"Scoberry Footbridge". Bridges On The Tyne. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
^Roberts, Pevsner & Williamson 2021, p. 552.
^Woodhouse 1991, p. 17.
^ a b"Bridge makes link so walkers can enjoy circuit on popular footpath". The Northern Echo. 9 May 2002. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
^Paul, Martin (27 February 2020). "Plea to protect 'rotting' wooden bridges". Teesdale Mercury. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
^Roberts, Pevsner & Williamson 2021, p. 384.
^Ramsden 1947, p. 41 & 111.
^Woodhouse 1991, p. 22-23.
^"Reopening of Barnard Castle's Silver Bridge put back to the spring". The Teesdale Mercury.co.uk. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^Atkinson, Frank (1989). Victorian Britain : the North East. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-7153-8747-4. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^"A Footpath for the Deepdale Aqueduct". The North-Eastern Daily Gazette. 25 January 1890. p. 3. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^ a bRoberts, Pevsner & Williamson 2021, p. 108.
^Emett, Charlie (2007). Discovering County Durham & Teesside. Stroud : Sutton. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7509-4670-4.
^Lloyd, Chris (26 June 2024). "Milling about in Barney: the huge shoe thread factory once dominated a town". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
^Lloyd, Chris (7 December 2019). "Why a stonemason carved the wrong date on Barnard Castle's 450-year-old County Bridge". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
^Lloyd, Chris (19 March 2022). "Bridges of Barney: Why this landmark opened with no ceremony at all". Darlington and Stockton Times. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^Chris, Lloyd (24 April 2021). "The Barnard Castle footbridge that snapped in half during massive storm". Darlington and Stockton Times. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^ a bWoodhouse 1991, p. 31.
^ a b c dRennison, R. W. (1981). "3. County Durham and Cleveland". Civil Engineering Heritage Northern England. the Institution of Civil Engineers. pp. 70–101 – via ICE Virtual Library.
^ a bLloyd, Chris (1 August 2018). "Flying back to day Ray Hanna piloted Spitfire under Winston Bridge". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
^"West Tees Railway Bridge". Bridges on the Tyne. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
^"Gainford Railway Bridge". Bridges On The Tyne. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
^Lloyd, Chris (27 November 2023). "Dicing with death on the lost railway line from Darlington to Barnard Castle". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
^"Police warning over fears of bridge collapse". The Northern Echo. 24 October 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
^"Bridge solution". Darlington and Stockton Times. 27 November 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
^Lloyd, Chris (6 November 2009). "Baffled by Barforth, full of history and mystery". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
^Roberts, Pevsner & Williamson 2021, p. 574.
^Lloyd, Chris (6 June 2020). "150 years of the Darlington & Merrybent Railway that had a station which famously never sold a ticket". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
^ a bLloyd, Chris (14 January 2017). "The death of a gentleman's servant and a Hurworth bridge build to carry sewage". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^ a bLloyd, Chris (11 July 2019). "Top 10 most curious bridges, including one built by God". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
^Lloyd, Chris (7 May 2013). "Family seat was a wright old pile". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
^Woodhouse 1991, p. 55.
^"Yarm Bridge". Stockton Heritage. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
^Historic England. "BARNARD CASTLE BRIDGE (THAT PART IN BARNARD CASTLE CIVIL PARISH) AND ATTACHED WALL TO SOUTH EAST, Barnard Castle (1201056)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
Ramsden, Doglas M. (1947). Teesdale. 11 Gower Street, London: Museum Press Limited.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
Roberts, Martin; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Williamson, Elizabeth (2021). The Buildings of England: County Durham. New Haven, CT ; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300225044.
Woodhouse, Robert (1991). The River Tees: A North Country River. Lavenham: Terence Dalton Limited. ISBN 0861380916.
External links
"The Bridges of the Tees". BBC Plades. 16 January 2009.
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