This small packhorse bridge stands where Marton West Beck meets Newham Beck
Its known as Devils Bridge as there was supposedly a cloven hoof mark on one of the stones, but I was unable to locate it, I suspect its long since worn away.
Newham Bridge / Devils Bridge – Acklam, Middlesbrough
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That cloven hoof was there in the 80’s and 90’s we had several school trips to the spot.
I will check when I am next there.
Superb pics, didn’t now about the Hoof marks, and I was brought up around the area… very interesting
The cloven Hoof Mark is found underneath the bridge but to see it you need to be stood in the water and its warn away to look like a large thumb print now and while I was in a school near there in the early 90’s we were told it was called Devils bridge as it is now known as the Devils thumb print.
There is no sign of any hoof marks there today or anything for that matter
I’ve seen the hoof shaped carving/indent on the underside of the bridge. However I did also hear of a landowner in Saxon times named Aefel who lived in the area. Theory goes that when the Normans took control it was common for them to place a D in front of names and so Aefel’s land became D’Aefel’s land and the bridge leading to his land became known as D’Aefel’s Bridge, and overtime this has changed to Devil’s Bridge.
I used to cross this Devil’s Bridge over (what was known as locally as..) Sandy Beck, at least twice a day for my school years at Hustler School in the early 1970’s. A few memories gained by re-seeing your pictures.
Thank you for posting them.