Gazing out of the train window on our recent journey from York to Edinburgh we were awestruck by the magnificence of the railway bridge we were about to cross as we entered the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed from the south. The size of the bridge alone was unlike anything we had ever seen before, and between the bridge’s many arches, the gentle way it curved, and the beauty of the river and town below I thought to myself at the time, “Why aren’t we getting off at this stop to explore and photograph this magnificent structure?”. Well as fate would have it we decided to do a day-trip to this lovely coastal town – it was just a short 40-minute train ride from Edinburgh. And as we found out after we arrived there are two other amazing bridges that cross the River Tweed just downstream from the railway bridge.
Berwick-upon-Tweed is located in Northumberland on the Scotland-England border, and because of its location it has gone through many turbulent times and has been subject to raids, sieges, and takeovers by both English and Scottish forces, finally falling into English hands in 1482 where it has remained to the present day. This northernmost town in England lies at the mouth of the River Tweed and has a number of notable architectural features including medieval town walls, the remains of a medieval castle, and three historic bridges (including the railway bridge) which we discuss here.
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It is believed that some sort of wooden bridge existed in Berwick as early as the 12th century, and that there may have been seven or eight bridge rebuilds prior to the early 1600s. In 1611 it was finally decided that a better bridge was needed – one that would not be so easily destroyed by floods or ice – so they set about to build the Berwick Bridge also known as the Old Bridge. This 15-arch red sandstone bridge took 13 years to complete and was finally opened to traffic in 1624. Berwick Bridge was the largest bridge constructed in the UK in the 17th century and carried traffic along the main road from London to Edinburgh for just over 300 years until 1928 when the Royal Tweed Bridge was opened just upstream of the Berwick Bridge. The Berwick Bridge is still in use today for foot and bicycle traffic and also carries a small amount of automobile traffic. Looking at this bridge it is hard to believe it was built almost 400 years ago and still appears to be in such good condition.
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The Royal Tweed Bridge took only four years to complete and was at the cutting edge of concrete bridge construction. The bridge has only four arches and is constructed with reinforced concrete and dressed sandstone. When built the bridge possessed the longest reinforced concrete arch in Britain and was also the country’s longest highway viaduct. A new road bridge had originally been considered for this area as early as 1896, and a scheme had been produced in 1914, but the outbreak of the First World War intervened, and plans were not revived until 1924. The Royal Tweed Bridge, while still in use, has been replaced as the main route between London and Edinburgh by the A1 River Tweed Bridge which was built in 1984 and lies about a mile west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. We did not see nor get to photograph this newest bridge.
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Before walking further upstream along the riverside trail to see the third bridge we took a short detour away from the banks of the river and wandered into a section of the town where we stumbled upon The Barrels Ale House, a pub that could best be described as fun and quirky. When you enter the place the first thing that hits you is the bar with its unusual looking bar stools, one of which looks like a chair you might have seen in a dentists office many years ago. Then you notice the walls which are adorned with old photos and memorabilia including a framed copy of the Liverpool Echo proclaiming “John Lennon Shot Dead”. Off from the main room was another room with lots of tables and chairs that looked like it was for group gatherings. There was also a stairway leading to a basement where they host live music at night. The place had a great vibe to it, so we stayed to enjoy a beer and chips before returning to the river to continue our explorations.
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The pièce de résistance of bridges in this area, and the one that so intrigued us to return to Berwick-upon-Tweed is the Royal Border Bridge which was built between 1847 and 1850 to carry train traffic. It was the last link in the east coast rail line from London to Edinburgh. It is a gently curved 28-arch bridge that is 2,162 feet in length and carries trains 121 feet above the River Tweed. The bridge is constructed in masonry with brickwork soffits that form the underside of the arches and is covered by stone cladding. 15 of of the arches are over land south of the river while 13 are over the river itself. While both the Berwick Bridge and the Royal Tweed Bridge mentioned above involved about 170 workers to build, the Royal Border Bridge was believed to employ over 2,000 workers during the height of construction activity. It is considered by many to be one of the finest railway viaducts in the world.
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Looking at this bridge and imagining life in the 1840s it is difficult to imagine what it must have been like to work on the construction of this monument to engineering back so many years ago – before there were computers and programs to aid in the design, before there were all of the tools we have now to make construction of architectural wonders appear so easy. What were the working conditions like? Did the laborers work long crazy hours everyday, did they get time off to spend with their families, did they get paid a decent wage, where did they sleep and eat, where did they come from?
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While my brain was mulling over these thoughts and questions we found one of the trails leading up the steep banks of the river back into town and we eventually found our way to Meg’s Mount, a small grassy area with a great view of the town and the river below. We took a few more photos and then returned to the Berwick train station to wait for our return train to Edinburgh. As we climbed the stairs to take the covered footbridge from the station to the train platforms I happened to glance out of one of the windows to see this spectacular sunset. It marked the end of another amazing outing on our journey.
Sunset Berwick-upon-Tweed
– – Michael Guttman, 2018
– – Photography by Michael Guttman and Judy Terra
