The original Wearmouth Bridge was designed by Thomas Paine and opened in 1796.

To accommodate the growing volume of traffic, construction began on the current bridge in 1927.

It was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson and fabricated by the famous bridge building firm of Sir William Arrol & Co. at their Dalmarnock Ironworks in Glasgow (they also built the famous Forth Rail Bridge and the steel structure of Tower Bridge in London).

[2] It was opened on 31 October 1929 by the Duke of York (who would later become King George VI).

[4] The bridge carries the A183 road between Chester-le-Street and South Shields and the A1018 which was the old route of the A19 until the bypass was built leading to the Tyne Tunnel.