Northumberland Holiday Guide 2009
Robert would win lasting fame for these hugely successful cleared a site for a new country house and gardens. Despite
locomotives but he would win immortality as a bridge builder. having retired from business he remained a passionate inventor
His innovative double decked High Level Bridge spanned the so when his great friend, Joseph Swan, developed a practical
Tyne in 1849 and a year later he completed the 28 arches of light bulb (a year before the American Thomas Edison),
the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Armstrong designed a system that would use water power to
produce electricity and light Swan’s bulbs.
The Royal Border Bridge was much more than an engineering
milestone. Spanning the ancient Anglo-Scottish frontier also He had already built a water powered laundry, lift and rotisserie
transformed the political landscape of Great Britain. Now and in 1880 Cragside became the first house in the world to
Edinburgh could be reached in hours rather than days which be lit by hydro-electric power. Armstrong also predicted, with
cemented the union and laid the foundations for Britain’s remarkable prescience, that Britain would cease to mine coal
metamorphosis into the world’s first industrial power. within a century and urged that hydro-electricity and solar
The Royal Border Bridge also irrevocably altered the history of power should replace fossil fuel.
Berwick, whose Medieval castle was demolished to provide
stones and space for Robert’s new bridge and station. Now In many ways, Armstrong’s career mirrors the whole history of
Berwick was no longer a frontier town in the far north of industrial Britain. His manufacture of such boons to humanity
England but at the centre of a truly unified Great Britain. as hydraulic cranes was eclipsed by his development of
weapons but then his reputation is redeemed by his invention
Sadly Robert only lived for 12 years after his father’s death and championing of ‘green’ hydro-electric power. It is no idle
and died on the 12
th
of October 1859. Berwick plans to boast to say that Cragside House (now in the care of the
commemorate the 150
th
anniversary of Robert Stephenson’s National Trust) is the place to pay homage to the past, present
death with a celebration of his work and there will be events and future of British invention. Don’t miss:
and exhibitions staged throughout the summer of 2009.
March 2009
We cannot discuss Northumberland’s importance to industrial
Re-opening of the fully restored iron bridge at Cragside
May - October 2009
Britain without mentioning William George Armstrong. He was
A Season of Stephenson, Berwick-upon-Tweed
one of the greatest engineers of the Victorian age and his
lasting legacy can be found at Cragside House near Rothbury.
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
Armstrong was born in Newcastle in 1810 and began his
working life as a lawyer. However, whilst fishing he happened to Otterburn Mill
walk past a waterwheel and was inspired to design an hydraulic
Follow the A696 north from Newcastle to Otterburn village and the mill is
engine. His machine was built at Newcastle’s High Bridge
on the left. The exhibition, factory shop and Weaver’s Restaurant are open
daily, except Christmas Day, from 10am to 4.30pm in winter and 9am to 5pm
foundry (near Robert Stephenson’s Forth Street Works), and
in summer. Entry is free, there is plenty of parking and trout fishing is also
used to power the three prototype hydraulic cranes Armstrong
available with permit fees donated to the Great North Air Ambulance.
designed and built on the city’s Quayside.
www.otterburnmill.co.uk
The hydraulic cranes were an instant success. In 1847
Woodhorn Colliery
Armstrong opened a factory at Elswick in Newcastle to Sign posted from the A189 Newcastle-Ashington road. The museum is
build more cranes and by 1871 he was employing 28,000
open Wednesdays, Sundays and Bank holidays (except Christmas Day) and
men. He quickly amassed a vast fortune but he donated his
Tuesdays during school Holidays (other days are for groups by appointment)
between 10am and 5pm in summer and 10am and 4pm in winter. Entry is free
Jesmond Dene estate to the people of Newcastle as a public
but parking costs £2.50.
park, founded Armstrong College (the nucleus of Newcastle
www.experiencewoodhorn.com
University), left a legacy to build the city’s Royal Victoria
Infirmary and was the very model of the Victorian humanitarian. Stephenson’s Birthplace
Access is via a short walk from Wylam village centre (leave the A69
Yet for all his philanthropy Armstrong is not remembered
Newcastle-Carlisle road at Heddon, take the B6528 west and follow signs for
Wylam) and the cottage is open from mid March to the beginning of November
with the same affection as the Stephensons. This is probably
on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between 12pm and 5pm. Entry
because his Elswick works not only produced cranes but guns
costs £1.80 adults and 90p children.
and battleships. When Armstrong died in 1900, Elswick was
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
the only place in the world that could build and arm a battleship
in the same shipyard. Cragside House & Gardens
Armstrong’s house is much as he left it with many of the water powered machines
To modern eyes Armstrong’s fortune may seem to have been
still in working order. The stables have been converted into a fascinating museum
and there are acres of gardens to explore. Cragside is located at the eastern edge
immorally acquired. Yet we should not be too quick to judge
of Rothbury off the B6344 and the House is open every afternoon from March to
him because out of the darkness of his Satanic mills came light
November but not on Mondays (except bank Holidays).
– literally.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Armstrong bought the Cragside estate in 1863 and quickly
16 www.visitnorthumberland.com
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