Newcastle: a City and its River, Newcastle upon tyne, England

Rarely is a city defined so clearly by one single feature in the way that Newcastle-upon-Tyne is defined by its river. The city’s history has been shaped by the river, especially by shipbuilding; and now that the ship-yards are largely lost to history, the life of the city, especially its cultural and social life, continues to flow from the banks of the Tyne.

A favourite walk in the city is along the Quayside past the Tyne’s famous bridges. There are seven in total that straddle the river in this central area. From west to east these are:

- Redheugh Bridge - a modern road bridge, opened in 1983 (replacing an earlier bridge at this point)

- King Edward VII Bridge - a railway bridge, opened in 1906 to ease congestion in the Central Station

The High Level Bridge is possibly not the most attractive of the bridges over the Tyne; but it provides an angular, dramatic contrast to the curves of the Tyne and Millennium Bridges, and the views from a train crossing it can’t be beaten. It was designed by Robert Stephenson and built here between 1847 and 1849. It was the first major bow-string girder bridge to be built, designed to solve the challenge of spanning such a wide river valley. Six of its spans are over the waters of the Tyne, on masonry pillars up to 40 meters high; while on each side of the river a further four spans complete the bridging of the valley. It is a truly impressive piece of engineering, and it is easy to see why its local 19th century nickname was ‘lang legs’! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).