Further Information

Causey Arch was constructed in 1725-26 to provide a link between collieries at Tanfield and the main waggonway to the River Tyne. It carried a crude wooden railway track along which horses hauled waggons of coal.

Commissioned by a powerful group of local coal owners known as the 'Grand Allies' the Arch was designed by Ralph Wood, a local stonemason. It has a clear span of 31 metres (100ft) and stands 24 metres (80ft) above the Burn.

On the western side of the bridge, there was a Toll House where lines to other pits branched from the Arch.

An explosion at Tanfield Colliery in 1740 resulted in coal production declining and the waggonway across the Arch closed in 1786. Iron rails and steam engines had replaced horses on the route over the embankment by 1881. The line finally closed in 1962.