Bid to save River Tyne swing bridge that just won’t swing

Despite 1m spent on the 1876 landmark, last week's big relaunch in Newcastle was a failure

On 17 July 1876, the world's largest swinging bridge - a marvel of hydraulic engineering - opened for the first time, allowing access to the upper reaches of the River Tyne.

Since that day, the Newcastle Swing Bridge, designed by William Armstrong, one of the greatest names in British engineering, has opened on about 300,000 occasions for the passage of about half-a-million vessels.