Causey Arch

Causey Arch
North side of the bridge
Coordinates	54°53′51″N 1°41′15″W
OS grid reference	NZ 20126 55896
Carries	Waggonway (disused); footpath
Crosses	Causey Burn
Locale	Stanley, County Durham
Characteristics
Design	Arch
Material	Stone
Total length	105 ft (32 m)
Height	80 ft (24 m)
No. of spans	1
History
Designer	Ralph Wood
Opened	1727 (1727)
Statistics
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	CAUSEY ARCH
Designated	19 July 1950 (1950-07-19)
Reference no.	1240816
Location

The Causey Arch is a bridge near Stanley 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 of England. It carried an early wagonway (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" (founded by Colonel Liddell, the Hon. Charles Montague and George Bowes 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 wagons. Over 900 horse-drawn wagons crossed the arch each day using the Tanfield Railway.

When the bridge was completed in 1726, it was the longest single-span bridge in the country with an arch span of 31 metres (102 ft), a record it held for thirty years until 1756 when the Old Bridge was built in Pontypridd, 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 at the site reads "Ra. Wood, mason, 1727".

Use of the arch declined when Tanfield Colliery was destroyed by fire in 1739.

Present status

The Arch has been Grade I listed 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 which runs underneath it. The quarry near the bridge is a popular spot for local rock climbers.

Causey Burn itself flows into Beamish Burn which then flows into the River Team eventually discharging into the River Tyne.

See also

• Brandling Junction Railway

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

• Waggonway Research Circle
• Causey Arch Picnic Area, a leaflet produced by Durham County Council
• Durham Mining Museum Archives
• Causey Arch at structurae
• Tanfield Waggonway at Sunniside Local History Group