Last week marked the 90th anniversary of the opening of the “Tees Wonder Bridge” – the largest vertical-lift bridge of its type in the world and the first of its type in the country.
The Newport Bridge was built to be the new, main motor vehicle crossing of the River Tees – famously dubbed the ‘Steel River’ by Chris Rea. Construction work on the bridge played a major role in relieving unemployment in the 1930s, while the new link between the counties of Durham and Yorkshire supported the development of new and expanding industries along the Tees, including ICI.
In May, ahead of Local History Month, a new, richly illustrated book will be published by Middlesbrough-born academic, Dr Tosh Warwick, exploring the history of this remarkable engineering wonder which is often overshadowed by the nearby Tees Transporter Bridge.
The book is a decade in the making, because for the bridge’s 80th anniversary in 2014, Tosh collaborated with Teesside Archives and uncovered and digitised previously unseen photographs of the bridge. From there, Tosh set about delving into rare and private collections to gather previously unpublished pictures of the construction and opening to tell the story of the Grade II listed structure which last opened in 1990.
The book features debates on the impact of deindustrialisation, tales of triumphs and tragedies, plus dozens of memories alongside facts, figures and historic plans.
The bridge has also leading artists and photographers, and the work of Abby+Owen, Robin Dale, Philip Meadows, Alan Morley, Mackenzie Thorpe, Richard Wagner and Graham Frank Wright all features in the book.
Indeed, to mark the 90th anniversary of the Newport Bridge, the first 90 copies of The Tees Newport Bridge: The Untold Story of a Steel River Landmark ordered from the Heritage Unlocked website will be signed and numbered by the author and accompanied by a signed A4 art print by artist Graham Frank Wright. They will be at a special price of £19.34, whereas normally the book will be £19.99 and the print £14.99.
To order, go to heritageunlocked.com and visit the shop.
DURING the 1920s, the growth of traffic to the Billingham chemical works on the north bank of the Tees had made a second crossing of the Tees estuary necessary.
But engineers faced the same challenges as their counterparts who had built the nearby Transporter Bridge in 1911: the riverbanks were very low yet the wide river was used by tall ships. How to get the required height?
The designers of the Transporter bridge solved this problem by parking the deck neatly to one side so that ships could sail by.
The designers of the Newport bridge – the London firm of Mott, Hay and Anderson – solved it by lifting the deck so high that ships could sail underneath. They used a design that was common in north America but had never been employed in this country, and it was to be the heaviest bridge of its kind in the world.
The foundation stones were laid on July 14, 1932, and because the river had to be kept open during construction, the 170ft towers had to be built first. Then the deck was strung across in its highest position, 125ft above the waterline.
The bridge was built by Dorman Long, which had just completed the Sydney Harbour job, and it cost £512,000 – 75 per cent paid for by the Ministry of Transport and 12½ per cent each by Durham County and Middlesbrough Town councils.
It was ready for opening on February 28, 1934, and the Duke and Duchess of York performed the honours (two years later, they unexpectedly became king and queen).
They’d arrived the previous day at Darlington’s Bank Top station in an 80mph snow gale that was so strong that a wall had collapsed in Cumberland Street, crushing a workman to death. They’d stayed overnight at Wynyard Hall and then motored down to Stockton where, the snow-winds having blown themselves out, they changed into an open top car.
Then they took a wrong turning into Thornaby.
With crowds pressing against the side of the vehicle, they righted themselves and motored onto the river.
“I sincerely hope that this bridge will be a complete and lasting success,” said the duke as he pressed an electric button, and the 2,745 tons of steel glided downwards.
The chairman of the Newport (Joint) Bridge Committee, Alderman Thomas Gibson Poole, presented the duke with an inscribed silver cigarette case, which he undoubtedly treasured for many years.
With the deck in place, the duke and duchess ceremonially motored over to the Durham side. They were unable to go any further as the road had yet to be completed, so they turned round and motored back.
The Duke and Duchess of York motor across the Newport Bridge 90 years ago
At their express wish, they were then given a ride to the top of the bridge, inspecting the wood-panelled driving house where the four drivers controlled the elevation. Once at the top, the Acklam Cross, Britain’s first electric tug, sailed beneath them and became the first vessel to pass beneath the Newport.
After they were lowered to the ground, the royals motored to Middlesbrough Town Hall for a celebratory luncheon and then they motored – sorry, the Echo’s 1934 report has them motoring this way and then motoring that – back to Bank Top where they caught the 2.40pm Queen of Scots Pullman home to London.
IT took 90 seconds to raise the bridge, and all sources say that in the late 1930s, it was being raised 800 times a week, peaking at 1,400 times a week.
Memories is not a mathematical expert but that would be 200 times a day or, if there’s a 12-hour working day, that’s 16 times an hour – which would mean it going up 24 minutes out of every 60 with another 24 spent coming down, leaving just 12 minutes for the traffic to go across.
But river traffic declined after the Second World War and since November 18, 1990, the Newport Bridge has been bolted down so that now this 90-year-old veteran is permanently available for motoring across.
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