BLACKHALL MILL FOOTBRIDGE

"Everybody loves a bridge. They are essentially romantic objects - brave, adventurous, usually handsome or at least interesting to look at, often magnificently idiosyncratic and every single one of them a seperate individual with its own personality, pedigree and background, each time to be freshly encountered and enjoyed."

Bridges. Sir Hugh Casson. 1963

This footbridge connects the village of Blackhall Mill with Hamsterley and is situated almost a third of a mile west of the road bridge. The locality has seen several footbridges over the years. One existed next to where the present road bridge is sited and another just east of the Milkwell Burn which meets the Derwent here at the village, and which gave access to Hamsterley Colliery. There was also a ford here. Finally, another footbridge crossed the river west of all these points near the west end of Low Westwood where the river turns south.

The land here is mostly cleared of trees where the village spreads itself along the river banks and the main road runs parallel to the river but at a higher level. The area is no longer busy with coal mines and railways and is reverting to its rural past.

Blackhall Mill Footbridge Facts

Constructed - 2001?
Type - beam, concrete.
Position: Blackhall Mill, on County Durham/Tyne and Wear boundary.
Grid Ref: NZ 122 568

Blackhall Mill Footbridge

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