The Royal Tweed Bridge is a

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

crossing the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the ...

. It was intended to divert

traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffi ...

from the 17th century

Berwick Bridge Berwick Bridge, also known as the Old Bridge, spans the River Tweed in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England. The current structure is a Grade I listed stone bridge built between 1611 and 1624. History Prior to the construction of the ...

, and until the 1980s it formed part of the A1 road, the main route from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. However, the construction of the

A1 River Tweed Bridge A1, A-1, A01 or A.1. may refer to: Education * A1, the Basic Language Certificate of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages * Language A1, the former name for "Language A: literature", one of the IB Group 1 subjects * A1, a ...

to the west of Berwick has since reduced the Royal Tweed Bridge's importance.

History

It was designed by L.G. Mouchel & Partners, with consulting engineers

Charles Bressey Sir Charles Herbert Bressey, CB, CBE (3 January 1874 – 14 April 1951) was an English civil engineer and surveyor who specialised in road design. Bressey was Chief Engineer for Roads at the Ministry of Transport from 1921 to 1938. Between 1935 ...

and J. H. Bean, and the contractors for construction were Holloway Brothers of London. Construction took place between 1925 and 1928. The total cost of the bridge was £180,000, and up to 170 workers were employed during its construction. It was opened by the then

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, later Edward VIII, on 16 May 1928. It was built to supplement the older

a short distance downstream, which still carries road traffic. A bridge had first been proposed in 1896, and a scheme was produced in 1914, but the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

meant that plans were put on hold until 1924. A seven-arched stone bridge was proposed at this time, but eventually the concrete design was decided upon. The bridge was repaired in 1980, as it had been damaged by de-icing salt and its proximity to the sea. The A1 River Tweed Bridge, which opened in 1984, now carries the A1 road about a mile to the west of the Royal Tweed Bridge, reducing its importance as a crossing of the Tweed. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in recognition of its innovative design and striking scale.

Design

The bridge is built from reinforced concrete and consists of four unequal arches, with approach viaducts at each end. The northern end of the bridge is higher, and towards that end the spans are longer. The spans are of lengths , , and , and the approach viaducts are and long. The spans consist of four arched ribs, solid in the case of the shortest span and hollow for the longer spans. Columns rise from the ribs and are connected at the top by longitudinal beams, which support perpendicular beams that carry the roadway. The piers and abutments are constructed from

mass concrete Mass concrete is defined by American Concrete Institute Committee 207 as "any volume of concrete with dimensions large enough to require that measures be taken to cope with the generation of heat from hydration of cement and attendant volume change ...

, and there are

expansion joint An expansion joint, or movement joint, is an assembly designed to hold parts together while safely absorbing temperature-induced expansion and contraction of building materials, and vibration, or to allow movement due to ground settlement or seis ...

s and a system of wind braces over each of the piers. The parapets are made of dressed

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, and there are

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

lamposts on either side of the roadway. At the time of its construction, it held the record for the longest single concrete span in the UK.

References

External links

*
Photo of underside of bridge
{{River Tweed Bridges across the River Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed Bridges completed in 1928 Deck arch bridges Concrete bridges in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in Northumberland