Today's Object of the Week tells the story of a bridge - and Neddy, the prize fighter who took on all comers, including bulls!

SKIRLAW Bridge stands in the shadow of Newton Cap viaduct on the outskirts of Bishop Auckland.

It is largely overlooked by the traffic on the A689 whizzing on high to Crook – except when strong winds cause the closure of the viaduct, and then the 600-year-old Skirlaw Bridge again becomes the only way of crossing the Wear.

The bridge was built slightly before 1400 by Walter de Skirlaw, Bishop of Durham from 1388 to 1406, probably on the site of earlier bridges. It has two arches: a pointy one 91ft across and a rounded one 101ft wide.

When Bishop Skirlaw built his bridge more than 600 years ago, it would have connected Bishop Auckland with a “new town” on the cap of the hill opposite, but all signs of that settlement have been erased.

On the western end of the bridge is a stone inscribed ‘Edwd Palfreys Leep 1744’.

Edward Palfreys – or Neddy as he was known – “was one of those headstrong individuals, found in almost every town and village, whose deficiency of good practical common sense is made up by a certain, dogged recklessness of character, which places them at the head of every lawless mob”, according to Matthew Richley, ‘the Auckland poet’, in his 1872 book.

Neddy was a prize fighter, and he did not just take on humans. Bulls were a favoured opponent.

On the 1744 day in question, Neddy, who had probably consumed more beer than was strictly sensible, crossed the Skirlaw Bridge from Bishop Auckland intent on tackling a bull on the northern side.

He was accompanied by a crowd in similarly merry spirits, but when they reached the appointed field they found the bull in no mood to fight.

Placidly, it would have nothing to do with the drunken fool and his entourage.

“Neddy, no doubt, thought it a pity to bring the folks all the way there for nothing, so in lieu of the fight he determined to show them a few antics upon the parapet of the bridge,” recalled Richley.

Being in such an inebriated state, Neddy’s sense of balance wasn’t all it should have been, and he took a tumble 46ft to what the crowd presumed was his inevitable death.

But, somehow, Neddy survived without a scratch. Egged on by his followers, he repeated the feat not once, but twice.

The well-worn stone recording his feat and leap survived some work done on the Skirlaw Bridge in 1900, when the footpaths were placed on cantilevers so that pedestrians weren’t walking in the carriageway.

In 2002, those cantilever additions were replaced by a single footbridge alongside the Skirlaw.

 

Skirlaw Bridge, beneath the railway viaduct, on a snowy day in about 1950. The snap set up by Echo photographer Bill Oliver

Skirlaw Bridge, beneath the railway viaduct, on a snowy day in about 1950. The snap set up by Echo photographer Bill Oliver

 

 

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