Country: | England |
Static Image Name: | John Sell Cotman 002.jpg |
Static Image Caption: | Greta Bridge, John Sell Cotman, c. 1806 |
Coordinates: | 54.5134°N -1.8672°W |
Official Name: | Greta Bridge |
Unitary England: | County Durham |
Region: | North East England |
Lieutenancy England: | Durham |
Constituency Westminster: | Bishop Auckland |
Os Grid Reference: | NZ086131 |
Greta Bridge is a small village (or hamlet) on the River Greta in County Durham, England. The bridge (now bypassed by the A66 trunk road) is over the River Greta, just south of its confluence with the River Tees. The North Pennines, Teesdale and the Greta Bridge area – including the Meeting of the Waters – became a source of inspiration for romantic artists, poets and writers during the eighteenth century.
The name derives from the River Greta, recorded earlier as Gretha (1279) and Gretay (1341).
The etymology is a hybrid of Old Norse and Old English:
Greta Bridge is part of County Durham district and is governed by Durham County Council. The neighbouring village of Newsham – to the south-east – is part of North Yorkshire district.
Greta Bridge lies within the historic county boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire, but along with the rest of the former Startforth Rural District, Greta Bridge was transferred to County Durham for administrative and ceremonial purposes on 1 April 1974 pursuant to the Local Government Act 1972.
The village lies on the eastern flanks of the North Pennines – about 6miles east of the North Pennines area of outstanding natural beauty. The nearest town – Barnard Castle – is the market town for Teesdale.
The village is divided between Rokeby parish and Brignall parish – by the river Greta.
Civil parish | Place name | River Greta. | Latitude N – S | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rokeby parish. | Mortham Tower. Rokeby Hall. Greta Bridge village. | East West East | 514210 514180 513170 | |
Brignall parish. | The Morritt Arms. Greta Bridge village. Brignall village. | West | 513286 513170 512290 | |
Wycliffe with Thorpe. | Thorpe Grange Farmhouse. | East | 512770 |
Notable listed buildings and scheduled monuments in the local area include:
Grade | Name | Points of interest | Listed | Latitude N – S | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Grade I | Egglestone Abbey | White Canons | 515121 | ||
2. Grade II* | Abbey Bridge | John Sawrey Morritt. | 514940 | ||
3. Grade II | Dairy Bridge over the River Greta. | Meeting of the Waters. | 514384 | ||
1. Grade I | Mortham Tower (Manor House). | Christopher Rokeby | 514210 | ||
1. Grade I | Rokeby Park (Country house). | J B S Morritt | 514180 | ||
2. Grade II* | Rokeby Park (Landscape garden). | Meeting of the Waters. | 514180 | ||
3. Grade II | Sir Walter Scott's Cave (Grotto). | Walter Scott | 514108 | ||
3. Grade II | The Morritt Arms Hotel | 17th century coaching inn. | 513286 | ||
2. Grade II* Monument | Greta Bridge. | River Greta. | 513170 | ||
Monument | Greta Bridge Roman fort – Maglona. | Watling Street (North). | 513170 | ||
3. Grade II | Thorpe Grange Farmhouse | Charles Dickens. | 512770 |
Feature | Name | Map [1] | Latitude N – S | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Confluence | River Greta > River Tees. Meeting of the waters – Dairy bridge. | [2] | 514510 | |
Listed building | Mortham Tower (Manor House). | [3] | 514210 | |
Listed building | Rokeby Hall (Country house). | [4] | 514180 | |
Roman road | The Street; Tutta Beck. | [5] | 513690 | |
Confluence | Tutta Beck > River Greta. | [6] | 513510 | |
Listed building | Greta Bridge village – The Morritt Arms. | [7] | 513286 | |
Bridge | Greta Bridge – River Greta. | [8] | 513170 | |
Roman fort | Greta Bridge Roman fort – Maglona. | [9] | 513170 | |
Roman road | Watling Street (North) – The Street. | [10] | 513170 | |
Civil parish | Greta Bridge – Rokeby CP and Brignall CP. | [11] | 513170 | |
LAD | County Durham (district) – North Yorkshire. | [12] | 513170 | |
AONB | Eastern flanks of the North Pennines. | [13] | 513170 | |
Listed building | Thorpe Grange Farmhouse. | [14] | 512770 |
See also: Roman roads in Britannia.
Greta Bridge is on the route of the trans-Pennine (Stainmore) section of Watling Street (North) Roman road – now largely followed by the A66 trunk road. Archaeological excavations during the 1970's found part of the original road.
Watling Street (North) connected York (Eboracum) with Carlisle (Luguvalium) and Stanwix Roman fort (Petriana) – the largest fort on Hadrian's Wall.
Route from York to Carlisle:
Section | Shared route | Direction | From | To | Modern road equivalent. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East Pennine. | Dere Street | North | York (Eboracum) | Scotch Corner | A1 road | |
Trans-Pennine | West | Scotch Corner | Brougham, Penrith. | A66 road. | ||
West Pennine. | North | Brougham (Brocavum) | Carlisle (Luguvalium) Stanwix fort (Petriana) | A6 road |
Archaeological excavations near Scotch Corner have recently (c.2017) discovered a previously unknown major Roman settlement.
See also: Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications.
Stanwick Camp is an Iron Age hill fort a short distance north from Scotch Corner. The camp is believed to have been the main stronghold for the Brigantes tribe, a confederacy of smaller tribes spread across the North Pennines. The site was hugely extended at the beginning of the Roman occupation. Its close proximity to important Roman infrastructure is interesting – it is possible that there was a mutually beneficial truce between the Stanwick Brigantes and the Roman army, that did not extend to other Brigantes.
See also: Roman Britain and Romano-British culture.
An inscription found near the north gate suggests that the castrum (fort) was built during the early third century AD, although it is possible that a fort existed on the site as early as the first century AD. The castrum was built to protect the Watling Street crossing of the River Greta – river crossings were particularly vulnerable to attack from the local Brigantes or from other local tribes.
Many of the legions and auxiliaries who were stationed in North Britain during the Roman occupation originated from Roman Gaul (France) and Hispania (Spain). The name Tutta (from Tutta Beck) may derive from the Gaulish deity Toutatis (or Tūtatus) – god of the tribe.
The Tutta Beck–Greta confluence and the Greta–Tees confluence are both in close proximity to Maglona Roman fort.[6] [2] River confluences had a special significance for the Gaulish legions and auxiliaries who were stationed in North Britain during the Roman occupation.
Roman altars with inscriptions to Mars Condatis have been found in the Tees and Wear valleys. Similar altars are normally found at the confluence of rivers – for example, the Cong Burn–Wear confluence near Chester-le-Street – however others may have been disturbed or removed, especially by antiquarians and collectors.
The inscription Mars Condatis is a conflation (joining together) of deities::
The name Tutta may derive from the Gaulish deity Toutatis (or Tūtatus) – god of the tribe.
The two main source tributaries for Tutta Beck rise near Boldron and Kilmond Scar and meet at its source confluence near the A66 road junction known as Cross Lanes.[5] The beck flows from west to east parallel to Watling Street (A66 road) until its confluence with the River Greta north of Maglona Roman fort.[6] Archaeological excavations in the 1970's found remains of a vicus on the west bank of the beck.
Local Roman forts in the Tees and Wear valleys were often positioned to protect important river crossings:
Settlement | Roman fort | Roman road | River crossing | River name | Listed | Map | Latitude N – S | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chester-le-Street | Concangis | ? Cade's Road | ? | River Wear | [15] | [16] | 551310 | |
Binchester | Vinovia | Dere Street | Wear | River Wear | [17] | 531275 | ||
Piercebridge | Morbium | Dere Street | Tees | River Tees | [18] | 515780 | ||
Bowes | Lavatrae | Watling Street (North) | ? | River Greta | [19] | 513407 | ||
Greta Bridge | Maglona | Watling Street (North) | Greta | River Greta | 513170 |
Timeline for Greta Bridge and the surrounding area:
Date | Event | |
---|---|---|
1069-70 | Harrying of the North | |
1086 | Domesday Book Mortham and Brignall ..."Possibly waste...when acquired by current owner..." | |
c.1166 | Original Mortham Tower built by the Rokeby's. | |
c.1195 | Egglestone Abbey founded as a daughter house of Easby Abbey. | |
c.1314 | Mortham Tower destroyed by raiding Scots following the Battle of Bannockburn. | |
c.1540 | Egglestone Abbey granted to Robert Strelley following the Dissolution of the monasteries. | |
1725-31 | Rokeby Park built for Sir Thomas Robinson. | |
1769 | Rokeby Park sold to the Morritt family. | |
1771 | The great flood of 1771. Greta bridge destroyed. Old Brignall church destroyed. | |
1773 | Greta bridge replaced with current one designed by John Carr. | |
1799 | The Lake Poets Wordsworth and Coleridge explored the area around Greta Bridge. | |
1802 | Wordsworth married Mary Hutchinson. | |
1805 | The artist John Sell Cotman sketched the area around Greta Bridge. | |
1806 | Cotman's Greta Bridge (1805) and other work exhibited. | |
1813 | The romantic poem Rokeby by Walter Scott published. | |
1813 | The famous painting the Rokeby Venus by Spanish painter Diego Velázquez purchased and brought to England to hang in Rokeby Park. | |
1816 | J. M. W. Turner sketched Junction of the Greta and Tees at Rokeby. | |
1829-31 | Whorlton Bridge – part of the Staindrop to Greta Bridge turnpike.[20] | |
1834 | Greta Bridge was an important staging post – with three inns. | |
1839 | Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens published. | |
1868 | Bowes railway station opened on the Stockton to Liverpool railway. | |
1974 | Greta Bridge transferred from North Riding of Yorkshire to County Durham. |
The local area was badly affected by the harrying of the North – due to its close proximity to the Great North Road. The Domesday entry for Mortham [Tower][21] and Brignall ("Bringhenale")[22] show:
At that time the land south of the Tees – including Mortham and Brignall – was part of the Gilling wapentake, and part of the Honour of Richmond.
The current bridge was built in 1773 to replace the one destroyed by the great flood of 1771. It was designed by John Carr for John Sawry Morritt, father of J B S Morritt. Morritt also paid for the Abbey Bridge to be built in the same year.
Prior to the arrival of the railways in the 1850's, Greta Bridge had been an important overnight stop for the London to Carlisle coach. Overnight passengers and visitors would stay at one of the three coaching inns in the village.
Wordsworth and his wife Mary were regular users of the mail coach in order to travel over from the Lakes to visit Mary's parents at Stockton-on-Tees.
Charles Dickens wrote his famous book Nicholas Nickleby in order to expose the truth about the boarding schools for young boys in North Yorkshire. He deplored what he considered to be the exploitation and harsh treatment of boys who stayed at those schools – many were expected to do hard labour on the land, such as hay making and mucking out – in addition to their school work. Sanitary arrangements were often poor, resulting in ill health if not actual death. Diet was also generally poor, and boys often went hungry.
There was a cluster of these schools around the Greta Bridge area – due to its convenient location for travel from London using the London to Carlisle mail coach. Most of the boys were from wealthy parents who lived in London or the South.
The book was hugely successful, in terms of sales, reception and reform of the system.
Village | Schools | Pupils | Academy name – Proprietor | Map | Latitude N – S | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cotherstone | 1 | ? | Woden Croft – Edward Simpson. | 520764 | ||
Cotherstone | 2 | ? | Two boarding schools. | [23] | 519716 | |
Startforth | ? | ? | Startforth schools. | [24] | 516179 | |
Bowes | 4 | 800 | Bowes Academy – William Shaw. Three other schools. | [25] | 513426 |
Woden Croft is now a Grade II listed building, located just north of Cotherstone in Teesdale, near the Balder–Tees river confluence.[26] During the 19th century Woden Croft had been a private academy run by Edward Simpson, and typical of the Yorkshire schools satirized by Dickens.
The name Woden is a play on the Norse mythology of Baldersdale – Woden is the English name for the Norse god Óðinn – father of the Norse god Baldr.
Then, Balder, one bleak garth was thine, And one sweet brooklet's silver line, And Woden's Croft did title gain From the stern Father of the Slain; – Walter Scott (1771 – 1832)
See also Wiktionary:
See also: Romantic art, Romantic poetry and Romanticism in Scotland.
During the eighteenth century Teesdale became a popular destination for romantic artists, poets and writers, who inspired others to follow.
..."The Greta and Tees, two most beautiful and rapid rivers, join their currents in the demesne.The banks of the Tees resemble, from the heights of the rocks, the glen of Roslin, so much and justly admired.
— Sir Walter Scott (1771 – 1832).
See main article: Rokeby Park.
The main building is a Grade I listed country house, built 1725-31 in the Palladian style for Sir Thomas Robinson. The house was sold to the Morritt family in 1769. In 1773 John Sawry Morritt (father of J B S Morritt) paid for the rebuilding of the Greta bridge and for the building of the Abbey Bridge.
John Bacon Sawrey Morritt was a patron of the arts, who nurtured young painters (for example John Sell Cotman), poets and writers, guided and advised them about the local area, its history and geography. Morritt was also a business man who hoped that the influx of painters, poets and writers to the region would spark a vigorous tourist trade, and boost the local economy.
The famous painting the Rokeby Venus by Spanish painter Diego Velázquez was purchased c.1813 and brought to England to hang in Rokeby Park. In 1906 the painting was purchased for the National Gallery in London.
Notable visitors to Rokeby Park included:
Year | Visits | Name | Profession | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1767, 1769. | ? 2 | Thomas Gray | Poet, scholar. | |
1796 – 1831. | ? 4 | J. M. W. Turner | Romantic painter. | |
1799 – ? | ? | Wordsworth | Lake Poet. | |
1805 | ? 1 | John Sell Cotman | Romantic painter. | |
1809 – 1831. | ? 6 | Walter Scott | Romantic poet. | |
1812 – 1829. | ? 2 | Robert Southey | Lake Poet. |
In 1799 Wordsworth and Coleridge explored the area around Greta Bridge, after visiting Mary Hutchinson at Sockburn. Mary lived on her parents farm on the Sockburn Peninsula – the peninsula created by a tight meander of the River Tees. Wordsworth married Mary in 1802, and the couple often travelled over from the Lakes to visit Mary's parents, using the mail coach to Greta Bridge, and stopping over at Rokeby.
The romantic painter John Sell Cotman (1782 – 1842) first explored the Greta Bridge area in 1805 when 23 years old. He had been invited by the Cholmeley family to stay with them at Rokeby Hall.
Cotman's best known work from his early period is the watercolour Greta Bridge (1805), now in the British Museum, which he painted from sketches made during his visit to Rokeby Park. The view is from the south of the bridge looking north, the Morritt Arms is shown on the left side of the bridge. The profile shown at the top of the bridge is noticeably different from that of the actual bridge – it shows a higher more pronounced summit – whereas the actual bridge has a gentle curved profile. It has been suggested that this was influenced by the geometry of the earlier bridge that had been destroyed in the great flood of 1771. The foreground is dominated by huge boulders – possibly swept down during the great flood.
Walter Scott's poem The Lady of the Lake, published 1810, had been hugely successful and was well received by the general public. The poem – set around Loch Katrine in the Trossachs – placed that part of Scotland firmly on the tourist map, boosting the economy of local towns, for example Callander. When Scott announced to J B S Morritt that he was planning to write a similar poem based around Teesdale, Morritt offered his services as a guide, possibly anticipating how it might spark a wealthy tourist trade, and boost the local economy. Scott's poem Rokeby, published 1813, was also hugely successful and did attract many new visitors to Teesdale.
See main article: Rokeby (poem).
Scott's poem Rokeby was largely based on local information provided by Morritt (or from books recommended by him), for example the Norse mythology behind many place names in Teesdale.
Extract from Rokeby – Canto Fourth:[27]
When Denmark's raven soar'd on high, Triumphant through Northumbrian sky, Till, hovering near, her fatal croak Bade Reged's Britons dread the yoke, And the broad shadow of her wing Blacken'd each cataract and spring, Where Tees in tumult leaves his source, Thundering o'er Caldron and High-Force; Beneath the shade the Northmen came, Fix'd on each vale a Runic name, Rear'd high their altar's rugged stone, And gave their Gods the land they won. Then, Balder, one bleak garth was thine, And one sweet brooklet's silver line, And Woden's Croft did title gain From the stern Father of the Slain;
– Walter Scott (1771 – 1832)