The County Bridge, was built in this form in 1569.
Until 1974 the river Tees marked the boundary between the counties of Durham and North Yorkshire (so we get "County Bridge")
As well as being the county boundary it was also the boundaries of two Bishops land, so illicit weddings were conducted in the middle of the bridge where neither Bishop could object.
The inscription on the battlement of the north arch of the bridge- "E.R. 1596" - is somewhat misleading. It used to be "1569" but the story goes that a local builder, sixty years ago, observing that the stone was so eroded that the figures were scarcely readable, decided to re-chisel them, with the result that they were left as they are now.
It is still a main artery for traffic and barely a week goes by without a story circulating about another automobile based adventure, usually involving big ones knocking lumps out of it!
Not so many years ago it used to be one of the busiest places in town as before our present 'liberal' licensing laws came into force one county's pubs opened earlier and the other county's pubs stayed open later so a lot of fun seekers were often spotted all moving in the same direction at the same time of night!
