B r id g e *
of thefe keels go down to Shields, a port near the mouth of the rivei
about ten miles from Newcajlle, where the large ihips lie; for.noii
exceeding between three and four hundred tons can come as high ajj
the town. I muft not omit that the imports of this place are veil
confiderable. It appears that, in 1771,
810 ihips, carrying 77,880, tons from foreign parts.
140 18,650 coafting trade.
950' 96,530
were entered at this port; and that t'he cuftoms for coal, amount t|t
41,000/. per annum, befides the 15,000/. payed to the Duke |
Richmond, at one fhilling per chaldron on all fent coaftways.
Leave Newcaftle, and crofs the Tyne, in the ferry-boat. Midwa j
have a full view o f the ruins of the bridge, and of the deftructkffl
made by the dreadful flood of November, 1771, which b o r e d o w l
four.arches, and twenty-two houfes, with fix of the inhabitants: on|f
of the houfes remained for a time fufpended over the waters ®
ihrieks of the devoted inmates were for a long fpace heard, with®
the pofiibility of affording them relief.
This bridge was. of ftone, and had flood above five hundred yea||
It confifted firft of twelve arches, but by the contraction ofjM
river by the quays on the northern fide, was reduced to nine, f f l
houfes on the bridge were, generally, built at diftances from e®
other. About the middle, was a handfome tower with an iron gala
ufed by the corporation for a temporary prifon. At the. fouth cn
was (formerly) another tower, and a draw-bridge. I
By the antient name of the ftation on the northern bank, Pons Am
¿isevident, that there had been a bridge here in the time of the
I ffl(. and I am informed that there are ftill veftiges of a road
inting direitly to it from Chefter-le-Jlreet. I cannot help thinking,
at part of the Roman bridge remained there till very lately ; for,
p theebfervation of workmen upon the old piers, thofe, as well
the piers of the bridge at By well, feem, originally, to have been
imed without any fprings for arches. This was a manner of
adding ufed by the Romansjj witnefs the bridge built over the
auk by Trajan *, at Severin, twenty Hungarian miles from Bel-
ft, whofe piers, I believe, ftill exiftf. Adrian was probably
the
•Brown's Travels, 3. Monfaucon, A ntiq . I V . par t i , p. 185. tab. CXV.
m% by miftake, attributes it to Adrian. II Smrinh a ruined place, a few miles above the remains o f Trajan's bridge,
L are ftill exifting, about five Englijh miles below D m irk a fi, or the Iron
Gate. This is a narrow pafiage in the Danube. A quarter o f an hour’s w a lk
L thefe remains, is an old ruined caftle on the northern fhore; and the next
Llice below it is called i'cherni-grad, or Mauro-cajtro. Count Mar/tgli T o p o g r .
L i . tom. II. p. 22. t. x . mentions, that the river, at the place, is not quite
1000 yards wide, and that the piers can be feen at low water only ; the diftance
of the two firft o f them is o f 17-i fathom, and fuppofing all the others to be equi-
diftant, .there muft have been twenty-three in ali. T h e mafonry feems to confift
k a ftrong cement and a number o f pebbles, faced with b r i c k s ; and he ob-
jfaved feveral ranges o f fquare holes, which probably were praftifed in the piers
hr the infertion o f oak-timbers to form the bridge upon, which had not the leaft
fTprings for arches. Captain de Schad, in the Auftrian fervice, who, m the year
I1740, navigated down the Danube, in the retinue o f the ambaffador to the Porte,
ltd Count Ublefeld, faw thefe low piers o f Trajan’ s bridge, near Tchernetx, probably
¡thefame place with the abovementioned Tcherni-grad, and thought them to be o f
iMtone. Topo'witeb Enquiries on the Sea, p. 203 and 24 1. Nicholas Ernjl
®>mn, a merchant, found thefe piers ftill exifting in the year 1768 ; but thinks
S f the