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County Durham
PLANNING THE BRIDGE
Investigations into the feasibility of a bridge started before Burdon’s election to parliament. The first
work was carried out by Robert Shout jun. (1734-97), Sunderland’s harbour engineer from 1781, who
was paid 50 gns in 1784 to design a masonry bridge.i In 1788 Shout, who had previously worked on
several bridges with his father, county surveyor for Yorks. (NR), formulated plans for a single-arch
stone bridge of 170-ft. span.ii This scheme foundered, and Shout was unable to contribute significantly
to the iron bridge project, other than perhaps advising on foundations and masonry abutments, as he
retired from the River Wear Commission because of ill-health in 1795.iii
Local enthusiasm was growing for the scheme, which would bring ‘great public utility and advantage’,
hand in hand with improved roads to Newcastle and South Shields.iv In 1790 a committee considering
the dangers and inconveniences of the Wear ferry came out in favour of a stone bridge.v A petition to
the bishop of Durham, legislators and landowners drawn up by inhabitants of the town in c. 1791-2
suggests widespread support. It also helps explain why the bridge had been so long delayed. Though
the river was ‘gentle, but narrow’,vi the chosen site, ‘nearly opposite to the north end of Green Street, a
situation the most likely to be attended with no detriment to the passing… of the keels, on account of
the deep water lying close to the south shore’, also presented particular challenges to the bridge
builders. The petitioners asked for a bridge of ‘two arches, each 120 ft. wide and 70 ft. high… above
the high water mark, to admit the largest ships passing through with their top masts struck’, and
presenting no obstruction to river navigation. But the very act of building a bridge threatened the
commerce of a town dependant upon the river. Inhabitants suggested that to minimise interruptions to
traffic on the river, the timber work and centres needed for construction of the arches should be in
place only during the annual suspension of the lime trade, between early October and the end of
March. If the timber were high enough, it need not impede keels with their masts up, even at high tide.
But the petition also reflects local doubts that the project could be completed without disrupting trade,
perhaps permanently.vii Shout proposed a centre pier 18 ft. wide, ensuring that half the river continued
open during construction, yet remaining as an obstruction in the river ever after.viii
Bowdler later described to Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, the difficulties in
bridging the Wear near its mouth. The river ‘runs at the bottom of a deep glen, whose banks are, in
many places, from 60 to 80 ft. above the water’. While the desire for a bridge was great and the
dangers of the ferries considerable, the obstacles were seen as ‘insurmountable’. Even at its narrowest,
half a mile above Sunderland near the village of Bishopwearmouth, the gorge’s span of 236 ft.
defeated all attempts. Furthermore, according to Bowdler
the bottom of the river, on account of quicksands, afforded no good foundation for piers; and
the number of vessels employed in the coal trade, was so great, that no bridge of more than one,
or at most of two arches, would have been suffered to be built, on account of its interfering with
the navigation of the river. It was also very desirable, if not absolutely necessary, that any
bridge which might be erected, should be of such height as to permit ships to sail under it
without lowering their topmasts.ix
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So while a bridge was much desired, the problems of construction – not least the threat to trade while
building was in progress – and doubts that the gorge could be crossed at all by a stone bridge, caused
hesitation. Burdon’s commitment broke the deadlock, and the engineering solution he helped produce
meant that river traffic continued almost uninterrupted.
Burdon had initiated the building of a turnpike road from Sunderland to Stockton, which passed his
estate at Castle Eden, and in 1791 oversaw a survey for new roads connecting Sunderland with
Newcastle and South Shields.x He invested his own money in these projects, according to Bowdler
expecting no more than a standard rate of interest and an increase in the value of his property in line
with a general rise resulting from improved communications. Burdon did not himself have interests in
local industries, his main asset being a share in the Berwick-upon-Tweed bank of Surtees, Burdon &
Co., so neither did he expect a direct business gain from his road- or bridge-building.xi
Burdon, central to advancing the project, collated plans, gathered information and called public
meetings to prepare a petition to parliament.xii An initial survey was carried out in 1791, probably by
Thomas Richardson of Bishopwearmouth, a Quaker coal fitter, when sites at the west end of the Pan
field were examined, the river’s measurements recorded, depths sounded - ‘sand all the way across,
but how deep is yet uncertain’ – and sections drawn of the river and banks.xiii The surveyor discussed
the suitability of Thomas Paine’s design for an iron bridge, and ended his report with lines from Pope:
‘Bid the broad arch the dangerous flood contain’.xiv Soon afterwards, John Nash was employed as
bridge architect, and under his instructions Thomas Wilson and a Mr McIntosh, possibly the contractor
Hugh McIntosh, carried out further surveys from a small boat in 1792 and 1793.xv
The role of the political pamphleteer Thomas Paine (1737-1809) in the Wearmouth bridge was less
significant than some afterwards claimed.xvi Paine, a promoter of iron bridges, influenced a design put
forward in 1791, but this bore small resemblance to the bridge as built, and Paine did not seek credit
for the Wearmouth project, implying that he had not made an active contribution.xvii At that time
Burdon still planned to build in stone. He consulted Robert Mylne (1733-1811), civil engineer and
architect, who advised him that the largest stone arches known were of 179 ft. and 155 ft., and that
Apollodorus had achieved 170 ft. span in 21 arches when crossing the Danube in AD 105.xviii Burdon
also sought advice from the eminent architect John Soane, a close friend and major influence whom he
had met when on the Grand Tour with Bowdler in 1778.xix Nash produced a model for a centring for a
200-ft. masonry arch which he estimated would cost £17,000.xx During the passage of the Act through
parliament, doubts were raised about the feasibility and cost, which Burdon discovered could amount
to more than £70,000. Concluding that Nash was a charlatan, Burdon dropped him, though Nash
would later claim much credit for the bridge.xxi His involvement ceased soon after January 1793.xxii
Apart from the cost - 'the extent of expense appeared beyond all reasonable bounds’xxiii – there
remained scepticism about whether a stone arch of 236 ft. could be built at all. ‘The constructing of a
centre for such a bridge would have been difficult, the weight of the arch would have exceeded 13,000
tons; and some doubts were entertained as to the possibility of erecting any abutments which could
support so enormous a pressure.’ Burdon was to prove himself bold in his approach to the bridge
design, but, as Bowdler pointed out, ‘no individual, however opulent or liberal, could be expected to
supply a fund equal to such an expense’, especially when there was such doubt about the structure’s
viability.xxiv Burdon himself was no technical expert, and nor were most of those who enthusiastically
engaged in the debate, including Byron’s later mother-in-law, Judith Milbanke, who noted in 1791 that
‘we are all up in arms in this county about a bridge over the river at Sunderland. To be or not to be is
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the question; and if to be, whether iron, wood or stone. In short we talk of nothing but bridgebuilding…'xxv
The practical and moral support of John (later Sir John) Soane proved invaluable to Burdon, and was
acknowledged in 1795 with the gift of a silver tureen to ‘his well-deserving friend’, inscribed ‘without
your help I would not have achieved my fame’.xxvi Burdon later described Soane as going ‘as far as a
regular architect could venture to encourage an undertaking out of all regular rules of practice.’xxvii
Burdon’s quest for novelty meant that his friend ‘occasionally [be]rated me’ but ‘my Wearmouth
bridge has… stood its ground most successfully, and though perhaps a little anti-architectural, has
justified my engineering, and made me not unworthy of your friendship in a modest degree.’xxviii Soane
had been ‘the only person who whispered to me to “go on” which, amongst other acknowledgements, I
am now gratified to make.’xxix Soane had expressed himself ‘happy to contribute any aid in my power’
to a project of ‘great public advantage’, and accordingly charged only cost price for copying drawings
and producing estimates of Nash’s scheme.xxx On Burdon’s behalf he consulted specialists about
foundations for the centring which would support the bridge during construction, designs for which
had been produced by the Whitby harbour engineer Jonathan Pickernell sen. (1738-1812) in 1794.xxxi
The switch towards construction in cast iron owed much to the Rotherham ironmaster Joshua Walker
(1750-1815), who had backed Thomas Paine’s early experiments in iron bridges, financing a patent in
1788 and producing at his works a trial rib of 90-ft. span in 1789. These efforts, while not in
themselves radical advances, re-awoke interest in the potential of iron bridges.xxxii The world’s first
great iron bridge, built at Coalbrookdale (Shrops.) in 1779-81, an almost semi-circular arch spanning
100 ft. and supporting 300 tons, was essentially a timber bridge made of iron. The designs of Paine
and Burdon, however, simulated masonry construction, using large numbers of iron voussoirs.xxxiii The
earliest drawings for an iron bridge across the Wear are assumed to have been produced by Walker,
espying a lucrative opportunity.xxxiv Walker’s foreman, William Yates, was involved in all subsequent
trials, and Walker encouraged Burdon in his plan to use cast iron blocks in place of keystones in the
arch’s construction,xxxv the idea patented by Burdon in 1795.xxxvi
Burdon’s scheme evolved from a masonry bridge, to a Paine-style arch, and finally to a rather different
concept based on Montpetit’s 1783 design for the Seine, a bridge held together with straps, all of
wrought-iron. The Sunderland bridge was cast iron, used a different method of strapping, and
spandrels resting on the arch reduced the gradient of the road to a maximum one in 12.xxxvii Burdon
described his principle as ‘totally different from the Coalbrookdale iron bridge – they consist of large
parts weighing 30 tons each, and depend more on their massiness than mechanism – mine is composed
of small parts of cast iron imitating key stones of an ordinary bridge, and weighing about 4 cwt. each,
which are made to bear on each other, and kept in a steady position by bars of wrought iron..’xxxviii
John Rastrick (1738-1826), member of a Morpeth family of millwrights, would later claim that he first
suggested to Burdon the idea for an iron voussoir arch, in 1791, but had received no payment; in his
subsequent career in London, Rastrick advertised himself as designer of the Wearmouth bridge.
Walker, hoping for more commissions from Burdon and his friends, took Burdon’s side in the dispute,
though it is feasible that the plan had been Rastrick’s. His claim to influence is more convincing than
that of Nash, and those made on behalf of Paine.xxxix
By the time of his patent, Burdon had fixed upon two Sunderland men, both of them prominent
freemasons, to oversee the building of the Wearmouth bridge. Thomas Wilson (1751-1820) was
employed to take charge of the project in 1792. Wilson, said to have kept a school but also described
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as a compassmaker, was selected for his competence in mathematics and engineering, and although
Burdon called him architect, his role may more accurately be described as that of engineer and clerk of
works.xl He was a key figure, devising a system of floating the ribs of the arch into position on
scaffolding.xli His achievement in building a bridge more than double the span of that at Coalbrookdale
was impressive, although potentially disastrous construction faults later emerged, and Wilson’s
subsequent career was far from illustrious.xlii Burdon’s second appointment was Michael Scarth (d.
1805), senior grand warden of the local freemasons, partner in a Sunderland ropeworks during the
1790s and later proprietor of a sail cloth works at Castle Eden. Scarth took care of financial
management during construction and long after the bridge’s completion, from 1793 until 1804.
Reflecting the value Burdon attached to their contributions, Scarth and Wilson were each assigned a
one third share of Burdon’s 1795 patent.xliii
Second page, logo not essential
A.W. Skempton & R.W. Rennison, ‘Robert Shout jun. (1734-97)’, in A.W. Skempton, M.M. Chrimes et al
(ed.), Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, i, 1500-1830 (2002), 608-9.
ii
Sir John Soane’s Museum, 79/1/61-2.
iii
A.W. Skempton & R.W. Rennison, ‘Robert Shout jun. (1734-97)’, 608-9; A.W. Skempton & R.W. Rennison,
‘Robert Shout sen. (1734-97)’ in Skempton, Chrimes et al (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers, i,
607-8; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 5-6.
iv
Plymouth & West Devon RO, 105/165.
v
Brockie, Sunderland Notables,103.
vi
Sir John Soane’s Museum, 79/1/57A.
vii
Plymouth & West Devon RO, 105/165; Sunderland Antiq. Soc., Wearmouth Bridge Box.
viii
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 5-6.
ix
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 49.
x
Brockie, Sunderland Notables, 101; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 55; DULASC, Add. MS. 1019.
xi
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 37-8, 55; Brockie, Sunderland Notables, 100-1.
xii
Sunderland Antiq. Soc., Wearmouth Bridge Box, notices of meetings 8 Sept. 1791, 31 Dec. 1791.
xiii
Plymouth & West Devon RO, 105/167; Sir John Soane’s Museum, 79/1/57A-60; Barfoot and Wilkes, 515.
xiv
Sir John Soane’s Museum, 79/1/57A; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 15.
xv
T&WA, IC/WBR/1, p. 1; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 6-9, 16.
xvi
Inst. Civil Eng., Sunderland bridge folder (material collected by J.G. James).
xvii
Sir John Soane’s Museum, 79/1/63; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 10-11; E. Kemp, ‘Thomas Paine, 1737-1809’,
in Skempton, Chrimes et al (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers, i, 506.
xviii
Plymouth & West Devon RO, 105/167; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 9; E. Ruddock, ‘Robert Mylne (17331811)’ in Skempton, Chrimes et al (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers, i, 466-71.
xix
J. Ingamells (ed.), A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800 (1997), 156-7; J. Burdon,
Letter to the Wearmouth Bridge Committee (1859), 4.
xx
Sir John Soane’s Museum, Private Corres. III.B.2/6, 18 May 1814; Bolton (ed.), Portrait of Sir John Soane,
202.
xxi
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 6-9, 51; 32 George III, c. 90.
xxii
T&WA, IC/WBR/1, p. 1.
xxiii
Garbutt 1819, 303-4.
xxiv
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 50-1.
xxv
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 6-7.
xxvi
P. Thornton and H. Dorey, Miscellany of Objects from Sir John Soane’s Museum (1992), 85.
i
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Sir John Soane’s Museum, Private Corres. III.B.2/12, 9 May 1818; Bolton (ed.), Portrait of Sir John Soane,
304.
xxviii
Sir John Soane’s Museum, Private Corres. III.B.2/30, 20 May 1835; Bolton (ed.), Portrait of Sir John
Soane, 531.
xxix
Sir John Soane’s Museum, Soane Case 11, 13 Aug. 1836; Bolton (ed.), Portrait of Sir John Soane, 532.
xxx
Sir John Soane’s Museum, Letter book 1793-5, 8 Jan. 1794.
xxxi
Sir John Soane’s Museum, Letter book 1793-5, 19 Feb. 1795; 79/1/54-6; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 20, 50-1;
R.W. Rennison, ‘Jonathan Pickernell sen. (1738-1812)’ in Skempton, Chrimes et al (ed.), Biographical
Dictionary of Civil Engineers, i, 524-5.
xxxii
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 2-4.
xxxiii
R.W. Rennison, ‘The influence of William Fairbairn on Robert Stephenson’s bridge designs: four bridges in
north-east England’, Industrial Archaeol. Rev. xx (1998), 44; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 1.
xxxiv
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 10-11; Sir John Soane’s Museum, 79/1/63-4.
xxxv
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 11-12, 22.
xxxvi
Rennison and James, ‘Rowland Burdon’, 102-3.
xxxvii
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 4-5, 55, 25.
xxxviii
Inst. Civil Eng., B795BURPTL.
xxxix
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 9-10, 28-31.
xl
J.G. James and R.W. Rennison, ‘Thomas Wilson (1751-1820)’ in Skempton, Chrimes et al (ed.), Biographical
Dictionary of Civil Engineers, i, 788-9; James, Cast Iron Bridge, 13-14, 55; Lib. and Museum of Freemasonry,
Phoenix Lodge membership list, p. 2.
xli
James and Rennison, ‘Thomas Wilson’, 788-9.
xlii
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 13-14; J.G. James, ‘Thomas Wilson’s Cast-iron Bridges’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 50
(1978), 55-72.
xliii
James, Cast Iron Bridge, 13; Sunderland Antiq. Soc., Wearmouth Bridge box, copy of note, 12 Dec. 1800.
xxvii
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