There is real excitement at Paxton House with the long-awaited reopening of the Union Chain Bridge after a multi-million-pound restoration that has taken 4 years to complete.

Paxton House looks up the river Tweed to this elegant bridge – one of the most impressive views imaginable – loved today by visitors to the house and by wedding parties drinking champagne on the lawns. George Home, who owned Paxton House when the bridge was built in 1820, commissioned leading landscape artist Alexander Nasmyth to paint the bridge looking downstream towards Paxton House. This painting now hangs in pride of place in our Entrance Hall next to the only known portrait of the bridge’s designer, Samuel Brown.

The World’s Oldest Vehicular Suspension Bridge

Samuel Brown (1776-1852) was an extraordinary entrepreneur. A naval captain from Newcastle, who founded a company that supplied chains to the Royal Navy, he realised that chain technology could be used to support the platform of a bridge. Like Robert the Bruce, legend has it that he was inspired by watching a spider build its web. The bridge was the first iron suspension bridge in Europe to carry vehicular traffic. Designed in 1817 and opened in 1820, the bridge held the record for the longest clear span deck in the world until the opening of Thomas Telford’s Menai Bridge in 1826. The Egyptian-inspired Scottish pylon, that supports the chains, is the earliest surviving road bridge pylon in the world.

Sir Samuel Brown – a forgotten hero

Samuel Brown went on to become the most prolific suspension bridge engineer in Britain, building 23 bridges and chain piers and pioneering the era of long span bridges. He was the only engineer of his generation who received a knighthood from the King. His company also made the chains which form the background to Robert Howlett’s iconic photograph of Brown’s younger contemporary, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The Bridge in 1820

The opening of the Union Chain Bridge on 26 July 1820 was attended by about 700 people, on foot, in boats and carriages, including the distinguished engineer, Robert Stevenson. Samuel Brown was first across the bridge from England to Scotland, testing it three times with a curricle towing twelve carts, followed by the crowd of spectators.

As one contemporary wrote in 1821:

“The new iron suspension bridge over the Tweed…is one of the greatest acquisitions this country possesses, and at the same time, one of the finest specimens in existence of modern invention…The daily inconvenience – besides serious accidents and loss of life – to which the inhabitants were long subjected, has thus been completely remedied; it admits two carriages abreast, affords the usual accommodation for foot passengers, and has proved of incalculable benefit to the public.”

The Union Chain Bridge Today

The bridge is today an important part of the national cycle network and is a tourist attraction in its own right. In July it was recognised as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, putting it on a par with the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge.

A charming riverside walk takes you from Paxton House’s woodland garden to the bridge (40 mins) for which you will need a grounds pass or you can learn more about it on a house tour.

The restoration was completed with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Northumberland County Council, Scottish Borders Council, Museums Northumberland and the Friends of the Union Chain Bridge.