Sunderland Bridge is a bridge just outside the village also called Sunderland Bridge in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. It lies close to the confluence of the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...

and River Browney. Sunderland Bridge originally carried the Great North Road (A1) across the

, and probably dates back to the 14th century. It is built of dressed

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

with four semicircular arches. The bridge has undergone several rebuilds, with the end arches being rebuilt in 1770, the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

s widened in 1822, and new end walls built in the 19th century. It is a Grade I

listed structure In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. When a new bridge was needed as the existing bridge was not wide enough to cope with traffic, Croxdale Bridge was constructed to the east of the existing bridge. The A1 at this point was later re-designated as the A167, and Croxdale Bridge continues to carry this road. Sunderland Bridge now carries very little road traffic after Durham County Council closed off the old route of the Great North Road at local request. It allows access to the private Croxdale estate and a sewage works. The bridge also forms part of the Weardale Way long-distance footpath. The bridge straddles the parishes of Brandon and Byshottles and Croxdale and Hett.

References

Bridges across the River Wear Grade I listed buildings in County Durham Scheduled monuments in County Durham Grade I listed bridges {{Durham-geo-stub