"To describe and to praise a brig hung in chains" :- Subscriptions were open'd, but all this waz fudge, And how hopeless the project an idyit may, judge". In 1824 the idea of a suspension-bridge across the Tyne from South to North Shields was proposed by Captain Samuel Brown. In 1825, shares were sold at £100 each and 83 subscribers bought a total of 225 shares [Ref: Hodgson, p142-143]. The proposed bridge is shown on this map of 1827.
Courtesy of South Shields Library.