Monkwearmouth Bridge
| Monkwearmouth Bridge | |
| County Durham | |
|---|---|
 Monkwearmouth Bridge (L); Wearmouth Bridge (R) | |
| Location | |
| Carrying: | Durham Coast Line / Tyne and Wear Metro |
| Crossing: | River Wear |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NZ396573 |
| Location: | 54°54’33"N, 1°22’59"W |
| Structure | |
| Design: | Vierendeel truss bowstring arch |
| Material: | Wrought iron |
| History | |
| Built 1879 | |
| Architect: | Thomas Elliot Harrison |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Network Rail |
Monkwearmouth Bridge, also known as Wearmouth Railway Bridge or Sunderland Railway Bridge) is a railway bridge built in 1879, crossing the River Wear at Sunderland and Monkwearmouth in County Durham. The bridge lies adjacent to and upstream of the Wearmouth Road Bridge.
Originally built as part of the Monkwearmouth Junction Line, it provided the first direct railway link between Newcastle and Sunderland. The bridge is now used by Tyne and Wear Metro and Durham Coast Line services.
The bridge is a Grade II listed structure.[1]
History and design
The bridge was built as part of the infrastructure for the Monkwearmouth Junction Line, which opened in 1879; a connecting line across the River Wear to link line of the former Brandling Junction Railway at Monkwearmouth to the south bank at Sunderland and the line of the former Durham and Sunderland Railway.[2][3]
The bridge was designed by Thomas Elliot Harrison: it consisted of a 300-foot main span, an iron bowstring bridge, constructed from box girders connected by what would later be considered a Vierendeel truss with curved corner strengthening to create elliptical voids in the bracing. Harrison's design pre-dates Vierendeel's theoretical analysis of these structures by around 20 years. The iron bridge was supported 86 feet above high water level on the Wear. At either end of the bridge were three 25-foot span masonry arches. Hawks, Crawshay and Sons built the ironwork, John Waddell was contractor for the stonework.[2][3] At the time of its construction it was claimed to be the largest hogsback iron bridge in the world.[1]
The structure was altered around 2000 support the Tyne & Wear Metro: the installation of overhead line electrification and construction of St Peter's Metro Station. The bridge has served the Metro system since 2002.[4]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Monkwearmouth Bridge) |
- Searle, Peter, ed., "The Sunderland Site Page 2 - Wearmouth Bridges", www.searlecanada.org, http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland002.html
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 National Heritage List 1207051: Monkwearmouth Railway Bridge over River Wear with viaduct to north (Grade II listing)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 William Weaver Tomlinson (1915), The North Eastern Railway; its rise and development, Andrew Reid and Company, Newcastle; Longmans, Green and Company, London, p. 685, https://archive.org/details/northeasternrail00tomlrich
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rennison, Robert William (1996), Civil Engineering Heritage: Northern England (2 ed.), Thomas Telford Publishing, p. 65, ISBN 07277-2518-1, https://books.google.com/books?id=Bv2BrOMo8cIC
- ↑ Sunderland Railway Bridge: BridgesOnTheTyne
- "Pyeroy Group - Works underway on Monkwearmouth bridge", www.railwaystrategies.co.uk, 31 August 2007, http://www.railwaystrategies.co.uk/article-page.php?contentid=3011&issueid=139</ref>
| Bridges and crossings on the River Wear | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cox Green Footbridge | Hylton Viaduct | Northern Spire Bridge | Queen Alexandra Bridge | Monkwearmouth Bridge | Wearmouth Bridge | North Sea |