Toll bridge built by a colourful eccentric

WHEN it comes to crossing the Tees, the traffic in Teesdale is nearing a full stop. The Whorlton suspension bridge is closed for repairs and so the cars, tractors, lorries and vast pantechnicons are queuing at the traffic lights upstream to cross the single track Abbey Bridge, at Egglestone.

This is a wondrous bridge, so headily high above the river that it makes you wonder just how it was built in 1773 without tremendous loss of life.

It is so heavenly placed, beside the romantic ruins of Egglestone Abbey, that it is a wonder more people do not know about its existence.

The bridge, with its imaginative castellations, was designed by Sir Thomas Robinson (1700 to 1777), a marvellously eccentric fellow whose family had owned nearby Rokeby Park for a century or so.

In fact, Sir Thomas, a selftaught architect and a "man of fashion", had been so inspired by a tour of continental Europe that in the late-1730s he designed and built the grand hall at Rokeby, in the fashionable Palladian style.

He also built the daring single span bridge over the River Tees at Winston, in 1763.

Sir Thomas' expansive style was obviously much sought after, because he also designed the west wing of Castle Howard and the magnificent gateway to the Bishop's Auckland Park, in Bishop Auckland.

He worked at Duncombe Park and Rievaulx Terrace, in North Yorkshire, and at other stately homes across the country.

As if this was not enough, from 1742, Sir Thomas was the governor of Barbados, in the West Indies.

There he indulged his passions of spending money and extravagant construction.

Unfortunately, he had somehow forgotten to get London's approval for his new armoury, arsenal and governor's official residence, and so had to foot the bills for them himself.

The islanders grew restless and got up a petition, and in 1747 he was recalled to England. He held other official posts, but was best known for throwing parties.

Building and partying cost large sums of money, and in 1769 Sir Thomas was forced to sell Rokeby.

The purchaser was John Sawrey Morritt, from Lancashire.

He paid for the building of Sir Thomas' Abbey Bridge - creating a direct route from Rokeby to Barnard Castle - which opened on June 19, 1773.

A pair of rounded, turreted toll-houses sat on the Yorkshire parapets.

Together they provided a residence for the toll collector.

"In the left-hand house was the daytime accommodation, " Alan Simpson remembered in his unpublished book Reflections, which tells of his childhood in the area in the 1920s.

"This was the toll office and the shop, which sold postcards and souvenirs. Below was the kitchen, which was in a cellar dug deep into the banks of the Tees.

"On the other side of the road was the bedroom, so the toll collectors had to walk across the road to bed. In the cellar beneath the bedroom was the coal house."

Mr Simpson, who died in 1999, remembered that in his day the toll collectors were Mr and Mrs Young.

They paid the Morritt family £150-a-year and in return were allowed to retain all the tolls.

"They made a reasonable living, sometimes remaining open all night to maximise their income, " wrote Mr Simpson, whose father worked for Major Henry Morritt, at Rokeby.

"This gave rise to a stingy reputation - but only for those who were forced to pay the toll when they had hoped to avoid it."

The Youngs charged the following tolls in the 1930s:

Omnibus - 1s 6d Motorcar - 6d Motorwagon - 1s Motorcycle with sidecar - 3d Wagon (three horses) - 10d Wagon (two horses) - 6d Cart (one horse) - 3d Chaise (two horses) - 9d Horse - 11/2d Gig/Dog Cart - 6d Cattle (per score) - 1s 3d Sheep (per score) - 8d "The moorsiders used to bring their sheep down in droves to take them to Barney Mart, " wrote Mr Simpson.

"The Youngs naturally had difficulty counting all the sheep, and the drovers would try to mislead them.

"On one occasion, a drover claimed he only had 150 sheep.

Mr Young argued otherwise in vain, and so next morning he went to the mart where he saw, with fury, that there were nearer 300 sheep for sale."

The Youngs, who started at the bridge in 1928, may well have been the last toll collectors.

The practice ceased in 1957, presumably when the bridge passed into the county council's hands. Sadly, the two turreted houses were cleared in 1958.

With thanks to Kathleen Williamson, of Darlington, who lent her brother Alan Simpson's book for this article.

Before leaving the area to work in the union movement, Mr Simpson was a reporter at the end of the war in Darlington, working for the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette.

His biggest story - which attracted national attention - was the Coffin Lid Scandal. It was a court case involving an undertaker who was removing coffin lids immediately prior to cremation and re-selling them to other grieving families.

Any further details would be most welcome, so we can nail down the Coffin Lid Scandal.

If you have any information or memories about any of today's topics, please write to Echo Memories,The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington DL1 1NF, e-mail chris. lloyd

Published: ??/??/2003

Echo Memories, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington DL1 1NF, e-mail chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk or telephone (01325) 505062.