Wylam Bridge is a road bridge in

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 on ...

, England linking the residential area of North Wylam and neighbouring villages of

Heddon-on-the-Wall Heddon-on-the-Wall is a village in Northumberland, England, located on Hadrian's Wall. Heddon-on-the-Wall is roughly west of the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, and just outside Throckley. The place-name 'Heddon' means 'hill where heather grew'. ...

, and Horsley with the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in South Wylam as well as west

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, including the villages of

Ryton Ryton may refer to: Places in England * Ryton, Gloucestershire, a location *Ryton, North Yorkshire *Ryton, Shropshire *Ryton, Tyne and Wear *Ryton, Warwickshire (in Bulkington) *Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire *Great Ryton, Shropshire People ...

and

Crawcrook Crawcrook is a semi-rural village close to the western border of the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear in England. Traditionally an independent village in County Durham, it was incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead on 1 April ...

History

The

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

Wylam Wylam is a village and civil parish in the county of Northumberland. It is located about west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is famous for the being the birthplace of George Stephenson, one of the early railway pioneers. George Stephenson's Birth ...

has been forded for a very long time but because of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, a more suitable method of crossing the river at this point was required to link the

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

on the north bank with the railway on the south bank so that goods could be taken to

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

and other parts of the country. At this time there was a waggonway on the north bank but it only went as far as

Lemington Lemington is an area and electoral ward of Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. History Lemington has a strong industrial history. It is famous for its brick glassworks cone, built in 1787. The River Tyne used to pass very close to Lem ...

. In 1836 a bridge was built over the river constructed from timber sections supported on stone piers, carrying road traffic and a

waggonway Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway, dramway ...

. In 1897 the bridge ceased to be used for carrying the waggonway because of the construction of

Wylam Railway Bridge Wylam Railway Bridge (officially West Wylam Bridge, also known as Hagg Bank Bridge and locally as Points Bridge and Half-Moon Bridge) is a footbridge and former railway bridge crossing the River Tyne at Hagg Bank, approximately west of Wylam i ...

. In the same year, the bridge was strengthened by being reconstructed using steel. A couple of years later in 1899, a new toll house was built on the north side of the bridge, although the original toll house on the south side still stood up until 1960. The toll for pedestrians to cross the bridge was one penny but in 1936 an opposition to the tolls led to the bridge being acquired by

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is a unitary authority in North East England. The population of the non-metropolitan unitary authority at the 2011 census was 316,028. History It was formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county of N ...

. The bridge was strengthened again during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1942 so that tanks and other heavy military vehicles could use it. Improvements to the bridge continued in the 1950s when two piers were replaced because of erosion and in 1959 when the bridge was widened to . Improvements continued as recently as 2007 when the railings were strengthened following a fatal car crash in which three people died.

References

{{River item box , River =

, upstream =

, upsub = Formerly North Wylam loop, now {{UK NCN route, route=72 , downstream =

Newburn Bridge Newburn Bridge is a road bridge crossing the River Tyne at Newburn in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It links Newburn, Walbottle and Throckley on the north side of the river with Ryton, Stella and Blaydon on the south side. The bridge is the we ...

, type = bridge , location = NZ119645 Bridges completed in 1836 Crossings of the River Tyne Bridges in Northumberland Former toll bridges in England

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 ...