Newcastle-upon-Tyne - Tyne Bridges

Approaching Newcastle from the south, the visitor sees six different bridges spanning the Tyne. The three best known became internationally famous for the revolutionary approach to bridge-building which they enshrined. The oldest is the High Level Bridge, a two-level steel structure almost 165ft/50m high, the upper level reserved for railroad traffic, the lower one for motor vehicles.

The bridge was built to plans drawn up in 1849 by Robert Stephenson, son of the legendary locomotive inventor, and was opened by Queen Victoria. The Swing Bridge, which was designed by Sir W. G. Armstrong and opened in 1876, stands on the same site as the "Pons Aelius" built by Roman legionaries. However the bridge which has the oldest construction and really symbolizes the city's identity is the Tyne Bridge, begun in 1925 and officially opened by King George V in 1928. At that time it had the largest arch of any bridge in the world, although only months later this record was usurped by the new Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.