CHAP. XVIII. HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE, NEWCASTLE. 407 



the inasterwork erected by Robert Stephenson between 

 the north and south banks of the Tyne at Newcastle, 

 commonly known as the High Level Bridge. Mr. R. 

 W. Brandling to the public spirit and enterprise of 

 whose family the prosperity of Newcastle has been in 

 no small degree indebted, and who first brought to light 

 the strong original genius of George Stephenson in 

 connexion with the safety-lamp is entitled to the merit 

 of originating the idea of the High Level Bridge, as it 

 was eventually carried out, with a central terminus for 

 the northern railways in the Castle Garth at Newcastle. 

 He first promulgated the plan in 1841 ; and in the fol- 

 lowing year it was resolved that Mr. George Stephenson 

 should be consulted as to the most advisable site for the 

 proposed structure. A prospectus of a High Level Bridge 

 Company was issued in 1843, the names of George 

 Stephenson and George Hudson appearing on the com- 

 mittee of management, Mr. Robert Stephenson being 

 the consulting engineer. The project was eventually 

 taken up by the Newcastle and Darlington Railway 

 Company, and an act for the construction of the bridge 

 was obtained in 1845. 



The rapid extension of railways had given an extra- 

 ordinary stimulus to the art of bridge-building ; the num- 

 ber of such structures erected in Great Britain alone, 

 since 1830, having been above twenty-five thousand, or 

 more than all that previously existed in the country. In- 

 stead of the erection of a single .large bridge constituting, 

 as formerly, an epoch in engineering, hundreds of 

 extensive bridges of novel design were simultaneously 

 constructed. The necessity which existed for carrying 

 rigid roads, capable of bearing heavy railway trains at 

 high speeds, over extensive gaps free of support, ren- 

 dered it apparent that the methods which had up to that 

 time been employed for bridging space were altogether 

 insufficient. The railway engineer could not, like the 

 ordinary road engineer, divert his road, and make choice 



