SALTBURN MORTUARY AND THE HALFPENNY BRIDGE

Saltburn Mortuary:
Saltburn Mortuary was built in 1881 to cope with the number of sailors who drowned and whose bodies the sea pitched up from the depths on to the beach. Before Saltburn Mortuary was built, bodies were taken to the Ship Inn next door.
Originally one of three buildings, the other two – the Rocket Brigade building (a team who would have used a mortar to fire ropes to ships in distress) and the Lifeboat building – have since been demolished, but Saltburn Mortuary now sits alone, remembering the past.

The Halfpenny Bridge
The 'Halfpenny' bridge was a typical example of Victorian enterprise and was completed in 1869 at a cost of £7000 and the lives of three workmen. It's span, on top of seven cast iron supports, offered spectacular views of the coast and surrounding countryside. The bridge, when it opened, became known as the Halfpenny Bridge derived from the fact that pedestrians paid a halfpenny toll to cross. The toll was taken at a toll-booth at one end of the bridge. The toll-house, which was built for the use of the toll-collector at the other end of the bridge, still survives today as a private dwelling.
On December 17th 1974 at exactly 9.30am the crowds that had gathered on Saltburn's promenade witnessed the demolition of one of the towns best known landmarks. This slender and spectacular cast iron structure, which had spanned the Valley Gardens since 1869, was reduced to a tangled heap of twisted metal in just four seconds and the vista through the valley towards Saltburn woods, would never be the same again.