High Level Bridge

High Level Bridge
The High Level Bridge (left)
Carries	Public transport motor vehicles Railway traffic Pedestrians
Crosses	River Tyne
Locale	Newcastle-Gateshead, England
Heritage status	Grade I listed
Characteristics
Design	Girder bridge
Total length	407.8 m (1,338 ft)
Width	12.2 m (40 ft)
Longest span	38.1 m (125 ft)
History
Opened	27 September 1849

The High Level Bridge is a road and railway bridge spanning the River Tyne between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead in North East England. It is considered the most notable historical engineering work in the city. It was built by the Hawks family from 5050 tons of iron. George Hawks, Mayor of Gateshead, drove in the last key of the structure on 7 June 1849 and the bridge was opened by Queen Victoria later that year.

It was designed by Robert Stephenson to form a rail link towards Scotland for the developing English railway network; a carriageway for road vehicles and pedestrians was incorporated to generate additional revenue. The main structural elements are tied cast iron arches.

Notwithstanding the considerable increase in the weight of railway vehicles since it was designed, it continues to carry rail traffic, although the King Edward bridge nearby was opened in 1906 to ease congestion. The roadway is also still in use, although with a weight restriction. It is a grade I listed structure.

In 1835 the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR) Act authorised the line to approach Newcastle to a terminus at Redheugh, on the south bank of the River Tyne, close to the end of the present-day New Redheugh Bridge. The Act also authorised a crossing of the Tyne there, giving rail access to the north shore quays. The river was shallow at this point, and the bridge would have been at a low level, only twenty feet above high water. The line would then have climbed to a terminus at the Spital, near Neville Street and the east end of the present-day Newcastle Central station. The climb was to be at a gradient of 1 in 22 and would have been operated by a stationary steam engine with rope haulage.

Hitherto railways in the region had had a local focus, but now the Great North of England Railway (GNER) obtained authorising Acts to build from Newcastle to York, forming part of a continuous trunk railway network to connect to London; the project was controlled by George Hudson, the so-called Railway King. At first the GNER was content to get access to the N&CR Newcastle terminus, by connecting with the N&CR at Redheugh and running over its line across the Tyne and up to the Spital. This had the advantage of avoiding a separate, and expensive, crossing of the river, but would have meant a steep descent to Redheugh as the GNER line approached on high ground from the Team Valley, only to climb once again to the Spital. Moreover William Brandling had made known his intention to reach Newcastle from his line by running at a high level through Gateshead. On 25 April 1837 the N&CR decided to build to their south side, low level terminus at Redheugh, but to leave the issue of the Tyne crossing open.