"This being the day appointed for laying the foundations of the two great bridges over the Ouseburn and Willington Dean, on the line of the Newcastle and North Shields Railway, John Hodgson Hinde, esq., M.P., vice-chairman, proceeded to Willington Dean, where he was met, at twelve o’clock, by a number of directors and shareholders, the engineer, architect, etc. The preliminary arrangements having been made, Mr. Hodgson Hinde shortly addressed those present, informing them that he attended there that day as the deputy of Matthew Bell, esq., M.P., the chairman of the company, by whom it had been arranged that the foundation of that stupendous structure should have been laid, but who, he was sorry to say, was prevented by severe indisposition from attending. He then read the inscription on the brass plate to be deposited in the foundation...." Read full article.
