The Causey Arch is a bridge near

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

in County Durham, northern England. It is the oldest surviving single-arch railway bridge in the world, and a key element of the

industrial heritage Industrial heritage refers to the physical remains of the history of technology and industry, such as manufacturing and mining sites, as well as power and transportation infrastructure. Another definition expands this scope so that the term a ...

of England. It carried an early

wagonway Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway, dramw ...

(horse-drawn carts on wooden rails) to transport coal. The line was later diverted, and no longer uses the bridge.

History

It was built in 1725–26 by stonemason Ralph Wood, funded by a conglomeration of coal-owners known as the "

Grand Allies The Grand Allies, or Grand Alliance, was a cartel of English coal-owning families formed in 1726. It was based on the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield, and played a major role in the economics of mining coal from the field for about a century. Ov ...

" (founded by Colonel Liddell, the Hon. Charles Montague and

George Bowes Sir George Bowes (21 August 1701 – 17 September 1760) was an English coal proprietor and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for 33 years from 1727 to 1760. George Bowes was baptized on 4 September 1701, the youngest son of Sir ...

the owner of Gibside Estate on which the bridge is situated) at a cost of £12,000. Two tracks crossed the Arch: one (the "main way") to take coal to the River Tyne, and the other (the "bye way") for returning the empty

wagon A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

s. Over 900

horse-drawn A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

wagons crossed the arch each day using the

Tanfield Railway The Tanfield Railway is a heritage railway in Gateshead and County Durham, England. Running on part of a former horse-drawn colliery wooden waggonway, later rope & horse, lastly rope & loco railway. It operates preserved industrial steam l ...

. When the bridge was completed in 1726, it was the longest single-span bridge in the country with an arch span of , a record it held for thirty years until 1756 when the Old Bridge was built in

Pontypridd () ( colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng ( Trallwn) and Treforest () ...

, Wales. After he designed the bridge, Ralph Wood was so afraid that his arch would collapse that he committed suicide in 1727, but the bridge still stands today. An inscription on a

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a fl ...

at the site reads "Ra. Wood, mason, 1727". Use of the arch declined when

Tanfield Tanfield may refer to: People *Charlie Tanfield (born 1996), British racing cyclist *Elizabeth Tanfield (1585–1635), English poet and dramatist *Francis Tanfield (1565–?), Proprietary Governor of the South Falkland colony in Newfoundland *Lawr ...

Colliery was destroyed by fire in 1739.

Present status

The Arch has been

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ire ...

since 1950. It was restored and reinforced in the 1980s. There are a series of scenic public paths around the area and the Causey

Burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...

which runs underneath it. The quarry near the bridge is a popular spot for local

rock climbers Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically an ...

. Causey Burn itself flows into Beamish Burn which then flows into the

River Team The River Team is a tributary of the River Tyne in Gateshead, England. Etymology The name ''Team'' may have a Brittonic origin. The name may be from the Brittonic root ''tā-'', with a sense of "melting, thawing, dissolving", plus a nasal roo ...

eventually discharging into the River Tyne.

References

* Skempton, A.W. (2002) ''Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland'', Volume 1, 1500–1830, p 791–792. Published by Thomas Telford Ltd.

External links

{{Commons category, Causey Arch
Waggonway Research CircleCausey Arch Picnic Area
a leaflet produced by Durham County Council
Causey Arch
at structurae

at Sunniside Local History Group Railway bridges in County Durham Tourist attractions in County Durham Grade I listed buildings in County Durham Grade I listed railway bridges and viaducts Bridges completed in 1726 Industrial archaeological sites in England Arch bridges in the United Kingdom 1726 establishments in Great Britain Stanley, County Durham

History

Present status

See also

References

External links