Wylam - Landmarks

Landmarks

Wylam Railway Bridge (also known as Points Bridge and the Half Moon bridge) is located at Hagg Bank, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the town. It is a wrought iron bridge built by the Scotswood Newburn and Wylam Railway Company in 1876 to link the North Wylam Loop with the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway.

The original plan had been to build a bridge with four spans resting on three piers on the river bed. This was rejected by the local coal companies who feared that the construction of the piers on the river bed would disturb the shallow mine workings below, which already suffered from flooding.

The designers found the solution in designing a single span bridge carrying a double track, without the need for piers. The bridge consists of three parallel wrought iron arches resting on abutments on each bank, with the twin rail decks suspended by 14 wrought iron drop bars. It cost £16,000 to build. The bridge paved the way for new developments in bridge building - Newcastle's Tyne Bridge in 1928, and Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, being direct descendants of the design and construction of Hagg's Bridge.

Many of the trains which used the bridge carried coal from the collieries at Newburn and Walbottle westwards to Carlisle.

The line was closed in 1968 and the bridge later purchased by Northumberland County Council. It was restored in 1997 with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund. All the old lead based paint was removed requiring the bridge to be wrapped in plastic to prevent polluting the river.

The War Memorial, which is a cross about 8 metres (26 ft) in height, stands by the roadside just to the north of Wylam bridge. The inscriptions and names on the War Memorial have been transcribed and published by the North East War Memorials Project.