EPW054561 ENGLAND (1937). The Tyne Bridge, Newcastle Swing Bridge and the High Level Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1937

Here is an audio of the image's description below, produced by blind and partially sighted users of Sight Service Gateshead during a partnership project with Britain from Above. Speaker is Dr Dorothy Hamilton, project lead.

This photograph shows three bridges over the River Tyne in 1937. On the right hand side of the picture is Gateshead. On the left hand side of the picture is Newcastle.

The bridge which is nearest the bottom of the picture is the High Level Bridge, which opened in 1849 to carry a railway track across the river. It also carries a road for pedestrians and vehicles below the railway line.

The middle bridge on the picture is the Swing Bridge, built between 1868 and 1876, to allow larger ships to pass down the river to Armstrong's works in Elswick. The bridge replaced the previous bridge which was built in Georgian times. It is in the same place as the medieval Tyne Bridge, and is probably where the Roman bridge crossed the Tyne.

The bridge nearer the middle of the picture is the Tyne Bridge. It has a very distinctive semi-circular shape. It was built in 1928 to link Pilgrim Street to the High Street in Gateshead.

Bensham Group