•     Introduction
•     Derwenthaugh to   Rowlands Gill
  •     Derwenthaugh Railway Bridge
  •     Derwenthaugh Road Bridge
  •     A1 Bridge at Swalwell
  •     The Hikey Bridge
  •     Swalwell Railway Viaduct
  •     Old Swalwell Bridge
  •     Swalwell Bridge
  •     Cricket Club Bridge
  •     The Damhead
  •     Butterfly Bridge
  •     Derwent Park Bridge
  •     Lockhaugh Railway Viaduct
  •     Derwent Bridge at Rowlands Gill
  •     Rowlands Gill Railway Viaduct
•     Rowlands Gill to   Allensford
  •     Lintzford Mill Bridge
  •     Lintzford Old Road Bridge
  •     Lintzford New Road Bridge
  •     Blackhall Mill Bridge
  •     Blackhall Mill Footbridge
  •     Ebchester Footbridge
  •     Ebchester Bridge
  •     Ebchester Old Bridge
  •     Shotley Bridge
  •     Shotley Bridge Footbridge 1
  •     Shotley Bridge Footbridge 2
  •     Allensford Bridge
•     Allensford to Derwent   Source
  •     Leadmill Footbridge
  •     Eddy's Bridge
  •      Derwent Bridge
  •     The Derwent Reservoir
  •     Carrick Bridge
  •     Blanchland Bridge
  •     Bay Bridge
  •     Hunstanworth Footbridge
•     Derwent Tributaries
•     Former Bridges and   Fords
•     Reference
•     Links
•     Bridges On The Tyne
•     Bridges on the Tees
•     Bridges on the   Coquet
•     Bridges on the   Wansbeck
•     Bridges on the Blyth
•     Bridges on the Aln
•     Bridges on the Wear
•     Bridges on the Tweed

OLD SWALWELL BRIDGE

This is one of the Derwent's older bridges, dating from about 1760, when an advertisement inviting tenders for its construction appeared in the Newcastle Courant. Built by the Clavering family of local landowners who lived in nearby Axwell Hall, it carried the main turnpike road from Gateshead to Hexham over the Derwent until it became inadequate for 20th century traffic and a new bridge was built 100 yards to the west. Only 16 feet wide it has three arches and cutwaters which serve to break up and divide the current and prevent damage to the structure from debris carried down the river at time of flood. It is Grade Two listed. A gas main on the east side of the bridge deck was removed in 2015 and the surface given new tarmac.

On the east side is an aquaduct in stone and with lattice girders carrying a cast iron/steel water pipe fed from Benwell reservoir carrying water to a pumping station in Gateshead which supplies that town. This somewhat spoils the appearance of the bridge when viewed from upstream to the west but sand blasting and re-painting in 2015 have improved the appearance. On the south side is the old toll house, still inhabited and known as Bridge End Cottage, and it is Swalwell's second oldest building after the former Angel Inn.

The bridge is used by pedestrians and cyclists to provide access from Swalwell to the Derwent Park or to Derwenthaugh via paths on the north side of the river. A few vehicles still cross to a garage on the north side where once a smithy existed. The river banks are wooded from here virtually to the river's source and, like the Hikey Bridge downstream, there are good views of the former railway bridge from the old stone parapets. An old postcard from the early days of buses shows one of these vehicles dangling precariously over the bridge having crashed through a parapet. A level crossing once existed just to the north of the bridge, over which ran the 'Main Way' coal-carrying railway from northwest Durham pits to Derwenthaugh.

 Old Swalwell Bridge