The most inaccessible bridge on the Wear, it is reached at the end of a long track off a minor road near Leamside, when by walking through Rainton Park Wood and descending some steps you find the bridge among the trees. It is currently out of use and it is not possible to cross and is not accessible from the other (Brasside, Low Newton) side.
Once a wooden railway bridge crossed here as part of the Lambton Railway carrying coal from nearby collieries on the river's west side to the Leamside line, then part of the North Eastern Railway, and on to Sunderland. The railway fell into disuse sometime in the early part of the 20th century but the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company used the site to carry two water mains over the river. The present iron footbridge was built at a later date, incorporating the water pipes.