Defunct bridge a key link to our industrial past
THE Tyne is famous for its great bridges.
We all known them: the Tyne Bridge (opened in 1928); the High Level Bridge (1849); the Swing Bridge (1876); the Millennium Bridge (2001), and the rest.
All very different and providing vital crossings between Newcastle and Gateshead, and all contributing to the spectacle of the river and the Tyne gorge.
But what of this structure? It crosses the Tyne between Scotswood and Blaydon, but it is long disused. How many know of the defunct Scotswood Railway Bridge?
But first, what of a whole host of Scotswood Bridges, past and present.
The current Scotswood road bridge was formally opened on March 20, 1967. One commentator at the time labelled it an “uncompromisingly ugly modern construction”.
The new bridge replaced the first Scotswood Bridge, or Chain Bridge as it was known locally.
This comprised stone towers, from which the road deck was suspended by chains
When it was opened in April, 1831, it was the first bridge across the River Tyne to be built during Tyneside’s industrial era, long predating more illustrious neighbours downriver that would later link Newcastle and Gateshead.
The whole project – including construction of the new bridge and demolition of the old bridge – was completed at a cost of £2.5m, three quarters of which came from a government grant.
This location has also witnessed a series of railway bridges across the Tyne. The fourth bridge – the one in our photographs – still stands, but the last train trundled over it more than 35 years ago.
At a time when the new railway was spreading around Britain like wildfire, the first Scotswood railway bridge, which was wooden, opened in 1839; the second in 1860; the third in 1865; and this fourth, wrought-iron, six-span version in 1871. It was constructed by Jarrow’s giant Palmer’s yard, the closure of which in 1933 was the catalyst of the famous Jarrow Crusade three years later.
The bridge carried trains on the Newcastle to Carlisle railway line between Scotswood and Blaydon stations.
Since 1982 all railway traffic has been diverted via Dunston.
Cyclists and walkers on the Keelman’s Way path, on the Gateshead side of the river, pass under a section of the once-busy Scotswood Railway Bridge every day.