The Wynch Bridge
A Teesdale Tale of Courage, Chains and the River Tees
If you follow the path through the trees at Low Force, with the sound of the waterfall echoing through the gorge, the Wynch Bridge appears almost suddenly. It hangs quietly among the rocks and the river, as if it has always belonged here. Today it feels calm and steady, a favourite place for walkers to pause. But its story is one of bravery, danger and some of the most daring engineering ever seen in Britain.
Long before visitors came with cameras and walking boots, this part of the dale belonged to the lead miners. Families lived at Holwick on the Yorkshire side of the river, while work and chapels sat across the Tees on the Durham side. Every day the miners needed to cross the river, and crossing by foot or horse was often impossible when the water was high.
And so, in 1741, something extraordinary happened.
Only seven years earlier, the first iron chain suspension bridge in Europe had been built in Saxony. Suspension bridges were a brand new idea. For one to appear in a remote valley like Teesdale was almost unbelievable. But the miners here knew iron and they knew the river. They needed a crossing, and they built one themselves.
The first Wynch Bridge stretched across the Tees just below Low Force, sixty feet long and twenty feet above deep, swirling water. It had only a single handrail and the chains that held it up were handmade and rough. Imagine being a miner on a dark winter morning, edging across a shaking chain bridge with the roar of river beneath you. Every step was a test of nerve.
Thirty years later the great flood of 1771 thundered down the Tees and tore the bridge away.
A second one was built, this time with two handrails, but it was still far from safe. In 1776, the Barnard Castle historian William Hutchinson visited the bridge. He took one look at it and refused to step on. He wrote that the planks trembled underfoot and that a traveller would feel themselves “suspended over a roaring gulf”, trusting their life to a restless walkway that few strangers dared to use.
He was right to be cautious.
In 1802 a party of miners and their friends crossed the bridge together. There were nine men and two women. The chains gave way. The centre dropped. Three men were thrown into the Tees. Two managed to fight their way to the rocks, but the third man, Bainbridge, was swept against the stones and killed. Word of the tragedy travelled across the dale and the bridge became feared.
Yet the miners still needed a way across. Life went on. Work went on.
By the 1830s suspension bridges had become a fascination across the north. The Stockton and Darlington Railway had even attempted a suspension railway bridge at Stockton. More footbridges appeared across the region. Here in Teesdale the Duke of Cleveland agreed to help fund a stronger replacement over Low Force, with the miners themselves giving small coins each month to keep it in good repair.
This is the Wynch Bridge we see today. Still narrow. Still gently moving under your feet. Still hanging above the deep water where the river slows after its fall.
Even this newer version had its moments. A report in the Teesdale Mercury tells of a man and a young girl crossing after a chapel tea meeting. One of the boards gave way. The man dropped through the gap up to his waist and only just managed to haul himself back up, pulling the girl with him. The villagers fixed the missing board within the hour.
Yet through fear, floods, repairs and tragedy, the Wynch Bridge has survived.
It is one of the earliest suspension bridges in Britain, and almost certainly the first in the whole country to be used by working people every day. It carried generations of miners to work, families to chapel, and children across the river to school. It has been shaken by storms, battered by rising water, and tested by time.
Now, when you walk across it, with the roar of Low Force below you, you feel a gentle sway. Just a little movement, like the river breathing. It is a reminder of the hands that built it, the footsteps that crossed it, and the lives that depended on it.
The Wynch Bridge is more than a footbridge.
It is a survivor.
A story in iron chains.
A quiet monument to Teesdale’s strength and courage.
Even the Bowes Museum, with all its history and beauty, is young compared to the Wynch Bridge. This simple crossing has been part of Teesdale life for nearly three centuries, shaped by the river and remembered by the people who trusted it.
Part of our Discover Teesdale collection – explore the dale’s walks, waterfalls, history and folklore.
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