A RAILWAY bridge which is the oldest in the world in continuous use has been given the highest level of heritage protection.

The Skerne Railway Bridge in Darlington was among the places to be granted Grade I listed status by Historic England in its latest review.

The remains of a Romano-British Villa at Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, was also included in the organisation's review of the year.

More than 30 sites in the North East and Yorkshire have been protected through listing or scheduling in the last year, from four ingenious Georgian tunnels on the Selby Canal, North Yorkshire, an 18th century windmill in Elstronwick and a 124 year-old Victorian lamp post in Withensea.

Trevor Mitchell, Historic England’s regional director for Yorkshire and the North East, said: “The places protected this year show the exciting diversity of our shared heritage, from the remains of a Roman Villa to ingenious Georgian canal tunnels.

"It’s sites like these that create distinctiveness and make us proud of where we live. Listing recognises their value so that everyone can continue to enjoy the heritage that makes their local places special.

"We encourage people to apply for listing, or share their photos and videos of listed sites, through our website.”

Historic England manages the National Heritage List for England on behalf of the government and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

It identifies buildings, monuments, sites and landscapes for ‘listing’, which means they receive special protection, so they can be enjoyed by people now and in the future.

The Northern Echo: Skerne Railway Bridge - listed at Grade I(c) Historic England Archive, James O. Davies

Heritage minister Nigel Huddleston said: "Listing these significant historic sites means we can protect our valuable heritage for future generations to learn from and ensure they are on the map for local people and visitors to be proud of and enjoy.

"This year's entries on to the list span the length and breadth of the country and have something to inspire everyone."

The Skerne railway bridge was built for the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, and is one of only seven Grade I listed railway bridges in England.

Thought to be the oldest railway bridge carrying regular passenger trains in the world, it is part of the original mainline of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and was constructed in under eight months.

It is the most impressive and technologically challenging engineering structure built for the opening, according to Historic England. Its architect Ignatius Bonomi, who was commissioned to begin work in 1824, had been the County Surveyor for Bridges for County Durham since 1813.

Historic England said: "He created an elegantly proportioned structure, with a single masonry arch spanning the river, flanked by two smaller pedestrian arches set in the wide piers that rise from the riverbank.

"This bridge is Bonomi’s most famous design and became emblematic of the momentous achievement of the S&DR, and the great historical significance of England’s railways – so much so that in the 1990s its image was featured on the five pound note."

It was previously recognised as a scheduled monument but listing is now considered more appropriate as it is still in regular use.

Also of note among the listings is the remains of a Romano-British Villa in Ingleby Barwick, which lies under the village green.

One of the northern-most villas of the Roman Empire that have been identified to-date, it is now a scheduled monument.

The site includes the remains of a principal villa building, which is a rare survival, said Historic England.

It joins three other villas in the area – at Old Durham, Piercebridge, and Dalton-on-Tees – as the most northern examples of villas known from anywhere across the whole of the Roman Empire.

Romano-British villas were extensive rural estates, which included a well-appointed, stone-built house with tiled or mosaic floors, underfloor heating, wall plaster and even glazed windows, together with agricultural and industrial buildings.

Most villa complexes, including this example, also had a heated bath house. Such villas were constructed throughout the period of Roman occupation from the first to the fourth centuries AD by the elite section of Romano-British society, mostly being built by wealthy natives who had adopted a Romanised lifestyle.

The Northern Echo: 1970s aerial photo of the farmland under which Ingleby Barwick Roman Villa lies, with crop marks indicating the villa's associated field system. This was taken before the modern housing development which now surrounds it was built in the 2000s. (c)

The villa’s field system was first identified from aerial photographs of cropmarks in 1970, but the presence of the villa buildings was not realised until archaeological investigations associated with a new housing development in 2000.

The layout of the housing development was then changed to preserve the most significant part of the villa complex under a new village green, the surrounding area being archaeologically excavated in 2003 prior to the construction of the new housing.

The recovered evidence indicates that the villa complex was established in the second half of the 2nd century AD, during the Antonine period (famous for the construction of the Antonine Wall between the Firth of Forth and the Clyde in Scotland).

The villa appears to have developed from a pre-existing farmstead and was used well after the end of Roman rule in 410AD.

The site retains important evidence of continuity and change over at least five centuries, much of it still preserved beneath the village green.

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