Bridges On The Wear

DADDRY SHIELD TO WEARHEAD

"The Wear is a handsome river. and towering above it are the fells, a line of heights that on the southern flank are seldom lower than 2000 feet, from Flinty Fell near Nenthead to Westerhope Moor above Westgate, crowned by Burnhope Seat (2452 ft), only a little lower than The Cheviot. On the north bank the hills are lower, though running up close to the 2000-ft contour on Wolfcleugh Common and reaching 2207 ft on Killhope Moor."

The Compnaion Guide to Northumbria. Edward Grierson. 1976.

Now the Wear turns northwest as it passes St John's Chapel, a small village from which the highest classified road in England (2056 ft) crosses to the River Tees at Langdon Beck. Then comes Ireshopeburn and Wearhead at the head of the valley, once the terminus of the Wear Valley railway, and where the Wear is formed at the junction of its two tributaries the Burnhope and Killhope Burns.

There are several footbridges and some old stone bridges and all are close to the pleasant walks along the Weardale Way.



 Opening Dates of Present Bridges

Huntsfield Footbridge - not known
Ponderlane Footbridge - not known
Broken Way Footbridge - 1985
Bridge End Footbridge - 1950?
Coronation Bridge - 1838
Blackdene Mine Bridge - 1978?
Blackdene Bridge - 1848
Sparks Farm Bridge - 1986
Wearhead Bridge - 1989


 View from Ponderlane Footbridge













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