Greta Bridge
| Greta Bridge | |
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 Greta Bridge, John Sell Cotman, c. 1806 |
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 Greta Bridge
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| Greta Bridge shown within County Durham | |
| OS grid reference | NZ086131 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Durham |
| Fire | County Durham and Darlington |
| Ambulance | North East |
| EU Parliament | North East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Greta Bridge is a village on the River Greta in County Durham, England.
Greta Bridge lies in the Pennine hills near to Barnard Castle. The bridge (now bypassed by the A66 trunk road) is over the River Greta just south of its confluence with the River Tees.
Greta Bridge lies within the historic county boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire, but along with the rest of the former Startforth Rural District, Greta Bridge was transferred to County Durham for administrative and ceremonial purposes on 1 April 1974 pursuant to the Local Government Act 1972.
The village is named after the river and is Norse in derivation, from grót + á meaning "stony stream".
A Roman fort and associated vicus (ancient name unknown) were located here, next to the major Roman road that became the modern A66.
Greta Bridge is mentioned in Charles Dickens's novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby as the site of Dotheboys School. Dickens mentions the "George and New Inn, Greta Bridge". This is thought to be a conflation of two coaching inns in or near Greta Bridge.
The link here is the publican "George Martin", who first of all ran the inn called the "George and Dragon" to the West of the River Greta, he then moved to the original "Morritt's Arms" built on the East bank of the River Greta as a coaching inn by the Morritt family of Rokeby, in approx. 1756, and he renamed it "The George" as recorded by Dickens (maybe having left his "dragon" behind at the present Morritt Arms!). Later, Martin moved to be landlord of The New Inn a mile to the east of Greta Bridge and renamed that "The George and New Inn". Source: Peter Gilbertson of The Coach House, Greta Bridge.
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