Swing Bridge at East Side with Ashlar Walls is a Grade II listed building in the Sunderland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 February 1991. Bridge.
Swing Bridge at East Side with Ashlar Walls
- WRENN ID
- sunken-oriel-tarn
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Sunderland
- Constituency
- Sunderland Central MP: Lewis Atkinson (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 8 February 1991
- Type
- Bridge
- Address
- Swing Bridge at East Side with Ashlar Walls, Hudson Dock
- OS grid reference
- NZ 412 570
- Coordinates
- 54.90684, -1.35756
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The swing bridge at the east side of Hudson Dock, built in 1880, features ashlar walls and is part of the entrance from the former sea lock to the former south outlet. A plaque on the bridge identifies Henry H Wake as the engineer, along with the River Wear Commission and Andrew Handyside & Co. Ltd. as the contractors from Derby and London. The bridge is constructed with riveted steel girders and has an asymmetrical hog-back arch that pivots on the north lock wall, with the shorter arm extending towards the land and the longer arm swinging to bridge the lock. A central strut connects the arch to the deck and includes a riveted reinforcing plate at the foot, with diagonal braces extending from the top to the feet of adjacent struts; these features are repeated along the entire length of the bridge. Originally, the bridge was operated by hydraulic machinery made by W.L. Armstrong & Co. of Newcastle upon Tyne. The inner face of the west side lattice metal balustrades displays a founder's plate, and the bridge is equipped with elliptical-headed tubular handrails. It pivots on one ashlar wall to close against the opposite wall.
Local climate
Swing Bridge at East Side with Ashlar Walls sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 83% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 95% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 27 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 71% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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