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 A rather blurred image of ”The Ha’penny Bridge” (so called as the standard toll to cross was a half penny) at Saltburn taken from the boating pool; this beautiful Victorian edifice was destroyed for expedience’s sake in December 1974. Rodney Begg tells us: ” I can remember cycling across the bridge delivering paraffin to White House School and paying the toll to the gate-keeper at the bungalow on the far side in 1963.” Image courtesy of several sources, thanks to Rodney Begg for the update.  A great view of the Halfpenny Bridge what a beautiful structure it was such a pity it wasn’t maintained so more people could have marvelled at it today. Callum Duff tells us: ”The Saltburn Bridge (to give the bridge its proper name) was originally built for two reasons; to ease the journey of carriage traffic from Saltburn to Skelton (or Brotton by a more circuitous route) and to link a second stage of housing development at Saltburn. The Skelton & Gilling Estates planned to release plots of land on the east side of Saltburn Lane on a site provisionally known as Bank Top. This building opportunity was never seized upon, I imagine as the Saltburn Improvement Company encouraged developers to buy land near Saltburn and its other facilities or possibly economic reasons stifled further expansion. In any case after the popularity of cars replaced horse and cart traffic (the bridge could have handled cars but only one at a time), the Saltburn Bridge became redundant.” Image courtesy of Geoff Hore; thanks to Callum Duff for the update.  Plenty of people listening to the band at Saltburn, the Half Penny bridge can just be seen in the background. Image courtesy of Mike Holliday and others.  If you look carefully into the distance the magnificent Half-penny Bridge can be seen, sadly no longer there any more, badly maintained in more modern times it was deemed expedient to demolish it rather than repair it. This magnificent display was still replenished every year, until recently – although the floral masterpiece has changed design over the years. The gardeners no longer raise the plants themselves on site however – they and their greenhouses and potting sheds are long gone. The gardening staff are provided by Redcar and Cleveland Parks and Gardens and are just as skilled at providing the wonderful displays. I called this ’The Italian Gardens’; but I had a feeling that this part of the gardens had another name. Callum Duff has come to our aid: ”This postcard does definitely show The Italian Gardens! the rest of the valley has been called a number of different names including The Pleasure Grounds, Saltburn Glen and The Valley Gardens.” Rob Carter adds: “I’ve bought a small album of Saltburn-by-the-sea photographs (Victorian) and there’s a photograph entitled ‘in the gardens’ showing the bandstand and also another entitled ‘the Italian Flower Gardens’. Other photographs include the gardens from the (Halfpenny) Bridge, Oak Walk in the gardens, the old Convalescent Home, the Cliff Tramway, On the Sands (with Bathing Machines)!” Many thanks to Callum Duff and Rob Carter for the updates.  Do you remember the Half Penny Bridge? Beautiful views as you walked across it but sadly it had to go, there follows another two photographs showing the bridge as it goes into the beck; during demolition on 17th December 1974. The cost of building the bridge (by Gilkes Wilson of Middlesbrough) was around £7,000 and sadly three men lost their lives whilst working on it. Eric Johnson comments: “Shades of the Tay bridge collapse, also built by Gilkes Wilson of Middlesbrough, another link with the Tay bridge was James Brunlees (later knighted) designer of Kilton viaduct, asked to design the replacement bridge his plan was rejected because he wanted to reuse salvaged parts of the old bridge. In the event the contractors did use parts of the old Tay bridge, to save time and money. the old piers can still be seen in the Firth of Tay. Image courtesy of Howard Wilson, thanks also to Eric Johnson for the update.  The second pair of photographs taken on 17th December 1974; and the bridge falls into the beck. The cost of £50,000 to demolish the bridge was far greater than the cost of building it. Image courtesy of Howard Wilson.  This photograph; taken from the Glenside side of the valley across to the Lodge keepers cottage, shows all that remains after the Half Penny Bridge was blown up a lovely landmark gone but not forgotten. A small section was preserved an used to create the river footbridge in the valley below.  Two for one; Saltburn beck and the Mill Race, two nice but not very often seen photographs. Bill Danby tells us: ”This is a collage that I made myself and is taken from my website Skelton in Cleveland in History to illustrate the mill race to Marske Mill on Skelton Beck.” Bill refers us to his Skelton in Cleveland in History, a website with lots of further interesting images and information. Image courtesy of Bill Danby, thanks to Bill for the update.  This image features on the website ”Skelton in Cleveland in History”; it was created from a colour photograph taken by Bill Danby as he did not have an old one at the time to illustrate the facts. If you look to the right you can see the modern PVC conservatory. David Richardson adds: “Rushpool Hall was made of ironstone and was built in 1863 to 1865, at a cost of £100,000 by the late John Bell, who with his brother Sir Lothian Bell (the Bell Brothers) was one of the founders of the Cleveland Iron Industry and the first to work ironstone in Skelton.” Rushpool Hall burnt down (although all the walls remained intact) in 1904. There is an image on the site of the burnt out shell, prior to restoration in 1905. George Sheeran comments: “I find it difficult to believe that this house cost £100,000 to build in the 1860s – what is the source of this figure? According to Bank of England calculations that would be about £11,500,000 today. I could just about believe that it cost something like that to build and decorate and fit out and furnish, but even in the 1860s this would take some doing. The Grand Hotel in Scarborough (built at around the same time) with over 300 rooms and an underground railway to bring in supplies cost something like £150,000 to build according to contemporary newspaper accounts. Image and details of its creation courtesy of Bill Danby; thanks to David Richardson and George Sheeran for the updates.  A lovely coloured postcard view of the valley gardens (most likely taken from the Half Penny bridge), complete with bandstand; with Rushpool Hall in the background looking rather like a fairy tale castle. Image courtesy of Mike Holliday. |
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