Hexham Bridge is a road bridge in Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 linking Hexham

Hexham

Hexham is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, located south of the River Tyne, and was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district from 1974 to 2009. The three major towns in Tynedale were Hexham, Prudhoe and Haltwhistle, although in terms of population, Prudhoe was...

 with the North Tyne valley. It lies north of the town of Hexham and is the main access to the A69

A69 road

The A69 is a major road in northern England, running east-west across the Pennines, through the counties of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Cumbria. Originally the road started in Blaydon, but since the creation of the A1 Western Bypass around Newcastle upon Tyne, it now starts at Denton Burn a...

 bypass

Bypass (road)

A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....

.

History

The Tyne was crossed by two ferries called the east and the west boats (Warden Bridge). As a result of persistent agitation a bridge was started in 1767 and completed in 1770. It was built by a Mr. Gait and consisted of seven arches. Less than a year later it was swept away in the great Tyne flood of 1771. In that flood eight bridges shared the fate of Hexham. In 1774 a new attempt was made fifty yards to the west by Mr. Wooler, an engineer who had been working on the new Newcastle bridge. Piles were sunk to carry the piers but work was abandoned on discovering that the "soil beneath the gravel was a quicksand with no more resistance than chaff". This first bridge, Hexham Old Bridge

Hexham Old Bridge

Hexham Old Bridge was an 18th-century stone bridge across the River Tyne at Hexham, Northumberland, England, and was located about upstream of the present Hexham Bridge.-History:...

, was about 1 miles (2 km) upstream of the present bridge close by Old Bridge End farm.

The authorities next approached Smeaton whose name as an engineer was famous. John Errington of Beaufront was given the contract for the sum of £5,700 and work started in 1777. Although the half completed piers were washed away the following year work continued and the new bridge was opened to traffic in 1780 [others give 1781]. However on March 10, 1782 there was a heavy fall of snow, followed by a violent hurricane. The valleys of the north and south Tyne were inundated and the nine arches were completely overturned. They are still visible and act as a sort of weir. Robert Mylne, a famous architect and engineer, was called in to report on the feasibility of rebuilding Smeaton's bridge. He was eventually given the contract to build a fourth bridge and the work was completed in 1793. Today this handsome bridge still stands as a monument to his genius.