Sunderland Bridge, County Durham

Sunderland Bridge is a bridge just outside the village also called Sunderland Bridge in County Durham, England. It lies close to the confluence of the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers, wends in a steep valley through ...

and

River Browney The River Browney is a river in County Durham, England, and the largest tributary of the River Wear. The River Browney rises from a spring in Head Plantation, on the eastern slope of Skaylock Hill, about a mile south east of Waskerley. The spr ...

. Sunderland Bridge originally carried the Great North Road (A1) across the

, and probably dates back to the 14th century. It is built 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 ...

with four semicircular arches. The bridge has undergone several rebuilds, with the end arches being rebuilt in 1770, the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

s widened in 1822, and new end walls built in the 19th century. It is a grade I

listed structure 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 ...

. When a new bridge was needed as the existing bridge was not wide enough to cope with traffic,