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Union Chain Bridge
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Union Chain Bridge
The Union Chain Bridge or Union Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Tweed between Horncliffe, Northumberland, England and Fishwick, Berwickshire, Scotland. It is four miles (6.4 km) upstream of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
When it opened in 1820 it was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world with a span of 449 feet (137 m), and the first vehicular bridge of its type in the United Kingdom. Although work started on the Menai Suspension Bridge earlier, the Union Bridge was completed first. The suspension bridge, which is a Category A listed building in Scotland, is now the oldest to be still carrying road traffic.
The bridge is also a Grade I listed building in England and an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It lies on Sustrans Route 1 and the Pennine Cycleway. Its chains are represented on the Flag of Berwickshire.
Before the opening of the Union Bridge, crossing the river at this point involved an 11-mile (18 km) round trip via Berwick downstream or a 20-mile (32 km) trip via Coldstream upstream. (Ladykirk and Norham Bridge did not open until 1888.) The Tweed was forded in the vicinity of the bridge site, but the route was impassable during periods of high water. The Berwick and North Durham Turnpike Trust took on responsibility for improving matters by issuing a specification for a bridge.
The bridge was designed by a Royal Navy officer, Captain Samuel Brown. Brown joined the Navy in 1795, and seeing the need for an improvement on the hemp ropes used, which frequently failed with resulting loss to shipping, he employed blacksmiths to create experimental wrought iron chains. HMS Penelope was fitted with iron rigging in 1806, and in a test voyage proved successful enough that in 1808, with his cousin Samuel Lenox, he set up a company that would become Brown Lenox & Co. Brown left the Navy in 1812, and in 1813 he built a prototype suspension bridge of 105 feet (32 m) span, using 296 stone (1,880 kg) of iron. It was sufficiently strong to support a carriage, and John Rennie and Thomas Telford reported favourably upon it.
Brown took out a patent in 1816 for a method of manufacturing chains, followed by a patent titled Construction of a Bridge by the Formation and Uniting of its Component Parts in July 1817. In around 1817, Brown proposed a 1,000 feet (300 m) span bridge over the River Mersey at Runcorn, but this bridge was not built. It is not known why Brown became involved with the Union Bridge project, but agreed to take on the work based on a specification dated September 1818.
Brown knew little of masonry, and Rennie did this aspect of the work.
The bridge proposal received consent in July 1819, with the authority of the Berwick and Durham Roads and Tweed Bridges Act 1802 (42 Geo. 3. c. cxvii), and construction began on 2 August 1819.
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Union Chain Bridge
The Union Chain Bridge or Union Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Tweed between Horncliffe, Northumberland, England and Fishwick, Berwickshire, Scotland. It is four miles (6.4 km) upstream of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
When it opened in 1820 it was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world with a span of 449 feet (137 m), and the first vehicular bridge of its type in the United Kingdom. Although work started on the Menai Suspension Bridge earlier, the Union Bridge was completed first. The suspension bridge, which is a Category A listed building in Scotland, is now the oldest to be still carrying road traffic.
The bridge is also a Grade I listed building in England and an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It lies on Sustrans Route 1 and the Pennine Cycleway. Its chains are represented on the Flag of Berwickshire.
Before the opening of the Union Bridge, crossing the river at this point involved an 11-mile (18 km) round trip via Berwick downstream or a 20-mile (32 km) trip via Coldstream upstream. (Ladykirk and Norham Bridge did not open until 1888.) The Tweed was forded in the vicinity of the bridge site, but the route was impassable during periods of high water. The Berwick and North Durham Turnpike Trust took on responsibility for improving matters by issuing a specification for a bridge.
The bridge was designed by a Royal Navy officer, Captain Samuel Brown. Brown joined the Navy in 1795, and seeing the need for an improvement on the hemp ropes used, which frequently failed with resulting loss to shipping, he employed blacksmiths to create experimental wrought iron chains. HMS Penelope was fitted with iron rigging in 1806, and in a test voyage proved successful enough that in 1808, with his cousin Samuel Lenox, he set up a company that would become Brown Lenox & Co. Brown left the Navy in 1812, and in 1813 he built a prototype suspension bridge of 105 feet (32 m) span, using 296 stone (1,880 kg) of iron. It was sufficiently strong to support a carriage, and John Rennie and Thomas Telford reported favourably upon it.
Brown took out a patent in 1816 for a method of manufacturing chains, followed by a patent titled Construction of a Bridge by the Formation and Uniting of its Component Parts in July 1817. In around 1817, Brown proposed a 1,000 feet (300 m) span bridge over the River Mersey at Runcorn, but this bridge was not built. It is not known why Brown became involved with the Union Bridge project, but agreed to take on the work based on a specification dated September 1818.
Brown knew little of masonry, and Rennie did this aspect of the work.
The bridge proposal received consent in July 1819, with the authority of the Berwick and Durham Roads and Tweed Bridges Act 1802 (42 Geo. 3. c. cxvii), and construction began on 2 August 1819.
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