A geocaching event will take place between 7 pm and 9 pm on Tuesday 30 May 2017 at The Boathouse, Wylam, NE41 8HR.
As usual for this venue it is hoped that the event will take place outside but if conditions are dire, it will be moved inside. All are welcome for a couple of hours of general banter, bravado, badinage and barter. TBs may be exhanged and puzzle owners quizzed!
The pub is situated next to the the bridge over the Tyne, which is the main river crossing between Blaydon and the A68 near Riding Mill.It is also, conveniently next to Wylam station.
To reach it you may have crossed the Tyne, which has long been a significant obstacle to travellers. You will barely notice the river these days as you cross by one of the many bridges and even tunnels but these are relatively recent additions. The one next to the pub is of comparatively modern construction. It was built in 1836 and is a beam type with 9 forty foot spans and a steel superstructure on stone piers.
Before that date, those who wanted to avoid the long detour to a bridge had to use either a ford or a ferry. It is said that once there were five ferries between Bywell and Wylam, and eight fords. In an 1828 book it appears, however, that there may have been some sort of tunnel for coal wagons under the river here –
The bridge was reportedly a combined road and railway bridge originally and had a timber deck supported on stone piers. A new bridge company replaced the timber decking with steel in 1897 when the bridge was no longer in use by rail traffic. It was again replaced in 1946 and in 1960 the bridge still had an old tollhouse at the south end although the company had erected a new one at the north end in 1899. Pedestrians were charged one penny to cross but an agreement between the landowner and the bridge company when the bridge was constructed allowed free passage to some of the well-off residents!