High Level Bridge over the Tyne

The ensemble of bridges old and new that cross the River Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead offers an unusually varied assortment of types for the connoisseur of all things pontine. The best views of this can be seen from the High Level Bridge, a double decker construction where trains run over the top while road traffic and pedestrians share the lower deck. Victorian railway development reached a frenzied climax in the mid 19th. century and the origins of this bridge lie in the protracted conflicts between rival promoters in a saga too tedious to repeat here. When the dust settled, the chosen design was the work of Robert Stephenson (son of the famous railway pioneer, George Stephenson). Wrought iron construction and a bow-string structure were specified. Building began in 1847 and all was complete in time for Queen Victoria to perform the opening ceremony in September 1849. Walking over the bridge is an exhilarating experience - trains still pass overhead but road traffic is restricted to southbound buses and taxis, the views downstream are spectacular and the curiously deserted roadway encased in structural steel has an unsettling quality.  Historic England has the bridge listed at Grade 1.

 

Bridges of 2024

This year’s choice of bridges (mostly) crossed and photographed would be very modest but for a visit to Newcastle, which it must be admitted has some fine specimens. From west to east along the Tyne, our first is the High Level Bridge designed by Robert Stephenson (1845-49), with T E Harrison - the rail deck is supported by cast-iron box columns while the road deck is suspended from the rail deck by wrought-iron hangers encased in the box sections. Grade I listed by Historic England. Next is the Swing Bridge of 1868-76, designed and built by W G Armstrong & Co. - a wrought-iron structure supported on cast-iron rollers to allow free movement of shipping, operated by the original Armstrong-built hydraulic engines and controlled from the cupola that spans the deck. Listed by Historic England as a Scheduled Monument and last opened in November 2019. The New Tyne Bridge (1925-28) comes next, built by Dorman & Long of Middlesbrough and designed by Mott, Hay & Anderson - the profile of its single span is often employed as a symbol of the city.  The design is a reduced version of the 1916 design produced for the Sydney Harbour Bridge - the four massive pylons, faced in Cornish granite were intended to house warehouses with freight and passenger lifts, none of which came to pass.  Grade II* listed by Historic England.  Finally to the only bridge over the Tyne designated for pedestrian and cyclist use - the Gateshead Millennium Bridge (1995-2001) designed by Wilkinson Eyre. The deck is suspended from an elegant parabola that can be rotated through 45 degrees to permit the movement of passing ships - a major element in the riverside regeneration project as an artistic and cultural quarter that in turn led to the conjoined coinage of Newcastle-Gateshead.

Finally, two views of the Scarborough Cliff Bridge, a pedestrian footbridge opened in 1827 when it was known as the Spa Bridge, it's an unusual example of a multiple-span cast iron bridge. Connecting the town centre with the Spa, it originally operated as a toll bridge. In the view from the deck the imposing bulk of Cuthbert Brodrick's Grand Hotel looms over the scene. Grade II listed structure.

 

Postcard of the Day No. 111, Jacob’s Ladder, Falmouth

This post is number 111 in this series.  The same number of steps can be found on Falmouth’s Jacob’s Ladder staircase, the work of a local builder named Jacob Hamblen who had them constructed to connect two of his properties at different altitudes.  Flights of steps confined between two buildings are a common feature in communities built on hills and there are other examples where locals have turned to the Scriptures and bestowed the name of Jacob’s Ladder. At least in this instance there was an additional justification for the choice of name.  Local photographers were quick to spot the postcard potential hastening to Killigrew Street and point their cameras in its direction, making it one of the most common subjects in this Cornish town.  The steps date from the 1840s and have the distinction of being listed at Grade II by Historic England.  The building on the right has since been demolished to be replaced by a branch of Lloyd’s Bank.  On the left, Falmouth Methodist Church has survived to the present.  Despite multiple passes, the StreetView camera has never captured the steps.  These two examples are the closest it has come to doing so.