09-18-2012, 02:53 PM
I am pleased that John has mentioned On The Trail of The Legions by Raymond Selkirk for it was indeed a subject that Raymond was not only interested in but proved that the Romans supplied their establishments by waterways.
Where he mentioned that the Dere Street went through Bywell and not Corbridge he also discovered that there is part of a Roman Dam still intact on the river Tyne at Bywell with its pound lock and sluice gate. The Roman bridge piers were still intact up to almost the mid 19th century as was a wier however who has ever heard of a wier with a ten feet vertical drop to it, (it was indeed the Roman Dam )
Here are pictures that show the bridge piers with the dam upstream of the bridge which was good waterway engineering where the dam takes the water pressure off the bridge.
There is also a picture of the Dam's wood inner structure after it had been destroyed by a large quantity of Ice that came down the Tyne on February 18th 1740 causing a tremendous amount of damage the Mill on the north bank was no longer in use and after another century the dam structure was blown up with dynamite as were the bridge piers one of which can be seen down stream of the dam. The pound lock with its sluice is still there today amongst the trees to the left of the first picture on the south bank of the river.
[attachment=5210]SEBywellTyne121Small.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=5211]SEBywellCas1Small.jpg[/attachment]
Where he mentioned that the Dere Street went through Bywell and not Corbridge he also discovered that there is part of a Roman Dam still intact on the river Tyne at Bywell with its pound lock and sluice gate. The Roman bridge piers were still intact up to almost the mid 19th century as was a wier however who has ever heard of a wier with a ten feet vertical drop to it, (it was indeed the Roman Dam )
Here are pictures that show the bridge piers with the dam upstream of the bridge which was good waterway engineering where the dam takes the water pressure off the bridge.
There is also a picture of the Dam's wood inner structure after it had been destroyed by a large quantity of Ice that came down the Tyne on February 18th 1740 causing a tremendous amount of damage the Mill on the north bank was no longer in use and after another century the dam structure was blown up with dynamite as were the bridge piers one of which can be seen down stream of the dam. The pound lock with its sluice is still there today amongst the trees to the left of the first picture on the south bank of the river.
[attachment=5210]SEBywellTyne121Small.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=5211]SEBywellCas1Small.jpg[/attachment]
Brian Stobbs
