Model of the River Tees, in the former park "Natures World", in 2009, with models of Transporter Bridge (left) and Newport Bridge (right), with the Riverside Stadium in the centre

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]

1830 illustration of the Stockton Railway Suspension Bridge, the first railway suspension bridge in the world, on the site of today's Surtees Rail Bridge.[7]

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.[lower-alpha 1] 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

The following is a list of crossings of the River Tees, heading downstream, from source to its mouth in the North Sea. This including road, rail, pipe and foot/cycle bridges and fords.[8][9]

Source to Barnard Castle

Crossing Type Coordinates Opened Notes Photo
Moor House Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍
Birkdale footbridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge🌍1966Just downstream from Cow Green reservoir[10]
Cronkley Bridge Edit this on WikidataBridge🌍Private road bridge
Holwick Head Bridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge🌍1998
Wynch Bridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge, suspension bridge🌍[11]1830[12]The original suspension bridge built on this spot was finished in 1741, was the first of its kind in Britain. That bridge was washed away in the Great Flood of 1771, with 2 more bridges being subsequently built there.[13]
Scoberry Bridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge🌍1971
Middleton Bridge Edit this on WikidataBridge🌍[14][15]1853B6277 road
Beckstones Wath Footbridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge🌍2002
Eggleston Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍[16]1450sB6281 road
Cotherstone Bridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge🌍1932

Barnard Castle to Piercebridge

Crossing Type Coordinates Opened Notes Photo
Deepdale Aqueduct Edit this on WikidataAqueduct, footbridge🌍[17][18]1893Victorian footbridge that also carries a pipe for water over the River [19]
Barnard Castle Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍[20][21][22]1569A67 road
Thorngate Footbridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge🌍[23]1881
Abbey Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍[24]1773Unclassified and unnamed road linking Abbey Rd to Westwick Road
Whorlton Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge, suspension bridge🌍[25][26][27]1831unclassified and unnamed road
Winston Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍[28][29]1760sB6274 road
West Tees Railway Bridge Edit this on WikidataRailway viaduct🌍1856Part of the former Darlington and Barnard Castle Railway[30]
Gainford Railway Bridge Edit this on WikidataRailway viaduct🌍1856
Barforth Hall Bridge Edit this on WikidataPrivate bridge🌍1950sprivate road bridge

Piercebridge to Yarm

Crossing Type Coordinates Opened Notes Photo
Piercebridge Pipe Bridge Edit this on WikidataPipe bridge🌍1956water pipe
Piercebridge Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍[31][32][33]16th century[31][32][33]B6275 road
A1(M) Bridge, Low Coniscliffe Edit this on WikidataHighway bridge🌍1961
Blackwell Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍[34]1832A66 road
Croft Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍[35][36]15th centuryA167 road
Tees Railway Bridge Edit this on WikidataRailway bridge🌍[37][38]1840East Coast Main Line
Low Hail Bridge Edit this on WikidataPrivate bridge, road bridge🌍1870s
Neasham Hall Bridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge, private bridge🌍[39]1909
Girsby Bridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge🌍1870
Fishlocks Bridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge, private bridge🌍1910s
Over Dinsdale Bridge Edit this on WikidataBridge🌍1830sUnclassified and unnamed road

Yarm to the river mouth

Crossing Type Coordinates Opened Notes Photo
Yarm Viaduct Edit this on WikidataRailway viaduct🌍[40]15 May 1852North TransPennine Line
Yarm Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍[41][42]1400s[43]A67 road
Preston Pipe Bridge Edit this on WikidataPipeline bridge🌍1959Water pipe
Jubilee Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍20 Apr 2002Carrying Queen Elizabeth Way
Surtees Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍3 Dec 2007A66 road
Surtees Rail Bridge Edit this on WikidataRailway bridge🌍2009Tees Valley Line
Victoria Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍20 Jun 1887A1130 road
Teesquay Millennium Footbridge Edit this on WikidataFootbridge🌍20 Dec 2000
Princess of Wales Bridge Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge🌍23 Sep 1992Carrying Teesdale Boulevard
Infinity Bridge Edit this on WikidataTied-arch bridge, footbridge🌍16 May 2009Foot and cycle
Tees Barrage Edit this on Wikidatafootbridge, dam, Lock🌍22 Apr 1995Road, cycle and foot
Tees Viaduct Edit this on WikidataRoad bridge, overpass🌍Nov 1975A19 road
Tees Newport Bridge Edit this on WikidataVertical-lift bridge, road bridge🌍28 Feb 1934A1032 road
Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge Edit this on WikidataTransporter bridge🌍[44]17 Oct 1911A178 road

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 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

  1. ↑ "Bridges over the Tees" (PDF). myice.ice.org.uk. Institute of Civil Engineers. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 Fitzpatrick, 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.
  3. ↑ "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.
  4. 1 2 Harrison, David (7 October 2004). The Bridges of Medieval England: Transport and Society 400-1800. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-155679-1.
  5. 1 2 3 Warwick, 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.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. 1 2 3 Betteney, Alan (2019). "Crossing the Tees: Fords, Ferries and Bridges" (PDF). River Tees Rediscovered. Tees Archaeology: 31–32. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  8. ↑ "Bridges on the Tees". Bridges on the Tyne. 2001. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  9. ↑ "OpenData support | OS Tools & Support".
  10. ↑ "Birkdale Footbridge". Bridges on the Tyne. 2001. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  11. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1121562)". National Heritage List for England.
  12. ↑ "Winch Bridge". Bridges On The Tyne.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1160160)". National Heritage List for England.
  15. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1203554)". National Heritage List for England.
  16. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1121638)". National Heritage List for England.
  17. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1291706)". National Heritage List for England.
  18. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1310593)". National Heritage List for England.
  19. ↑ "Deepdale Footbridge". www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  20. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1121647)". National Heritage List for England.
  21. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1201056)". National Heritage List for England.
  22. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1002353)". National Heritage List for England.
  23. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1291732)". National Heritage List for England.
  24. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1310824)". National Heritage List for England.
  25. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1160013)". National Heritage List for England.
  26. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1322762)". National Heritage List for England.
  27. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1002299)". National Heritage List for England.
  28. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1121747)". National Heritage List for England.
  29. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1323060)". National Heritage List for England.
  30. ↑ "West Tees Railway Bridge". www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  31. 1 2 Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1131363)". National Heritage List for England.
  32. 1 2 Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1145843)". National Heritage List for England.
  33. 1 2 Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1002344)". National Heritage List for England.
  34. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1121318)". National Heritage List for England.
  35. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1116440)". National Heritage List for England.
  36. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1131364)". National Heritage List for England.
  37. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1131366)". National Heritage List for England.
  38. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1299454)". National Heritage List for England.
  39. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1299423)". National Heritage List for England.
  40. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1139259)". National Heritage List for England.
  41. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1105658)". National Heritage List for England.
  42. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1006763)". National Heritage List for England.
  43. ↑ "Yarm Bridge". Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.
  44. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1139267)". National Heritage List for England.
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