TWM Archaeology

The history of the bridge

The first bridge was probably of timber. The stone bridge was built in about AD 160 and was partly destroyed by flooding of the river in the late 2nd or early 3rd century, following which the road ramp was rebuilt. The river crossing remained of vital importance until the end of the Roman period. A second ramp was built for a road approaching the bridge from the west and the approach to the north side of the bridge was remodelled, probably following further flood damage. Both these alterations appear to date to the end of the 4th century AD.

The stonework

The stone blocks which form the wall are an excellent example of opus quadratum, a Roman technique of construction used for major engineering works. The blocks were fitted together with very narrow joints and without the use of mortar. To save time and effort, the centres of the faces were cut back roughly leaving raised bands around the edges which were carefully worked to a flat surface (see picture below). The visible faces show decorative finishes, often consisting of ‘feathering’ (curved lines of tooling arranged in intersecting zones). The blocks also have sockets for dowels and iron clamps set in lead. Some of their upper surfaces have lewis-holes for the insertion of lifting devices, showing that cranes were used in the building of the bridge, and slots to take the ends of the crowbars which were used to lever the blocks into position.

The architecture

Roman bridges were elaborately decorated, as at Chesters on Hadrian’s Wall where the carriageway was lined with columns and there was an ornamental parapet. The Corbridge excavations also produced fragments from an elaborate stone parapet. A most unusual find was a large octagonal capstone, now displayed in the Corbridge Roman Site Museum. It perhaps sat on top of an octagonal shaft which listed on its faces the names of the places and their distances along each of the roads which radiated out from the bridge.

The road ramp

The Roman bridge consisted of perhaps as many as eleven stone arches and stood to a height of perhaps as much as 9 metres above the river. The road ramp was built to take Dere Street, the main north-south route in Roman Britain, up to the level of the carriageway across the bridge by means of a gentle gradient. The road approached the bridge obliquely from the east, so one side of the ramp was formed by a massive wall along the river bank, which also served to protect the southern end of the bridge from erosion. It is this wall which has been dismantled and re-assembled.

The destruction of the bridge

At some date during the first two or three centuries after the end of Roman Britain, the southern road ramp and perhaps other parts of the bridge were undermined by the river and collapsed. In the AD 670s the masons building St Wilfrid’s great church at Hexham used the bridge as a quarry. They also plundered stone from other Roman buildings at Corbridge, most notably the enormous mausoleum at Shorden Brae. Blocks from the bridge can be recognised in the crypt at Hexham Abbey and also in the Anglo-Saxon tower of the church at Corbridge. After the collapse of the Roman bridge, the Tyne was crossed by a ford just to the east of the present bridge, which was built in 1674, and the focus of the settlement at Corbridge shifted to its present site. In the early 16th century John Leland wrote that ‘evident tokens [are] yet seen where the olde brig was’, and the bases of some of the piers were visible until the mid-19th century.

The threat of destruction

In prehistoric times the River Tyne flowed to the south of its present course across what are now the Dilston Haughs. By the beginning of the Roman period it had moved further north and its line has continued to change in more recent centuries. The southern part of the Roman bridge still lies on the river bed, but gradual erosion was threatening to destroy the road ramp which was preserved in the river bank. Expert opinion was that the only way to save these important remains was to record them in detail and then dismantle the stonework and reerect it on a site nearby where it would be safe from erosion. Over 300 blocks, some weighing more than a tonne, were removed and have now been re-assembled a short distance from the present river bank. The result is an impressive mass of masonry standing to a height of more than 3.5m. The project was made possible by English Heritage which paid for the initial studies necessary for an application by Tyne and Wear Museums to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The application was successful and the project went ahead with funding from the HLF, English Heritage and Tyne and Wear Museums and with the assistance of many local volunteers and university students.

Visit the site

The riverside paths leading to the remains start by the car-park at the southern end of the bridge. The most accessible path is along the flood-bank which has a ramp next to the displayed remains. The bridge site is 350m farther upstream, just before the end of the flood bank. Except when the river level is exceptionally high, tumbled stone blocks from the bridge are clearly visible by the south bank. When the river is low, the top of the southern abutment can be seen just below the surface. There is public access to this part of the riverside at all times, but please note and respect the conditions of entry.

Further information: for forthcoming publications and publicity about the discoveries, visit the Corbridge Roman Site Museum or the following websites: www.twmuseums.org.uk or www.arbeiasociety.org.uk. The remains of Roman bridges can also be seen at Chesters on Hadrian’s Wall and at Piercebridge, near Scotch Corner.