The High Level Bridge is a road and railway bridge spanning the River Tyne between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead
Designed by Robert Stephenson and built between 1847 and 1849, it was the first major example of a wrought iron tied arch or bow-string girder bridge. It is a simple engineering solution to a difficult problem at the time it was built; the spanning of 1,337 feet (408 m) of river valley, including 512 feet (156 m) across water. The High Level Bridge has six river spans of 125 feet (38 m) length, sitting on masonry piers 46 by 16 feet ( by m) up to 131 feet (40 m) height. There are also four land spans on each side, of 36 feet 3 inches ( m). The two-way single carriageway road (since reduced to a single one-way carriageway) and pedestrian walkways occupy the lower deck of the spans, 85 feet (26 m) above the high-water mark, and the railway is on the upper deck 112 feet (34 m) above the high-water mark. The bridge was built for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, and together with Stephenson's Royal Border Bridge at Berwick upon Tweed, completed the line of a London-Edinburgh railway nowadays known as the East Coast Main Line. The bridge was opened to rail traffic, without ceremony, on 15 August 1849. It was officially opened on 27 September 1849 by Queen Victoria; and brought into ordinary use on 4 February 1850.
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Photo credit: © James R Gibson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: 1847, 1849, arch, bow-string, bridge, bridges, girder, high, iron, level, ne1, newcastle, river, robert, stephenson, swing, tied, tyne, wrought
