Tyne Bridge

In 2012, the largest Olympic rings in the UK were erected on the bridge. The rings were manufactured by commercial signage specialists Signmaster ED Ltd of Kelso. The rings were over 25 by and weighed in excess of four tonnes. This was in preparation for Newcastle hosting the Olympic football tournament, and the Olympic torch relay, in which Bear Grylls zipwired from the top of the arch, to Gateshead quayside. On 28 June 2012, a large lightning bolt struck the Tyne Bridge. It lit up the roads as the sky was very dark. The bolt, part of a super-cell thunderstorm, came with heavy rain – a month's worth of rainfall in just two hours – causing flash flooding on Tyneside. In 2015, Newcastle upon…

Local civil engineer T M Webster's 1921 proposal for a high level bridge to align with the Great North Road was agreed by the Newcastle and Gateshead Corporations in 1924 with a substantial Government subsidy to alleviate unemployment on Tyneside. The Bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson, comparable to their Sydney Harbour Bridge version. The Tyne Bridge's towers were built of Cornish granite and were designed by local architect Robert Burns Dick as warehouses with five storeys. Although a lift shaft was also included in the South tower no lift was ever installed. The bridge was painted green with special paint made by J. Dampney, Tonbridge, Tingate Co. of Gateshead. The same…