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Title: SPANNING THE TWEED

Reference number: 8244

Date: 1992

Director: filmed by Rev. John Jackson

Sound: silent

Original format: 16mm

Colour: col

Fiction: Non-Fiction

Running time: 11.32 mins

Description: "The great bridges of the Tweed. The river, it's setting, uses, vistas and story." An amateur film about the Tweed concentrating on historical and scenic aspects.

Handwritten note on original cans reads:- "Spanning the Tweed. The Great Bridges of Tweed, their background, story setting and significance. 1992. The river, it's setting, uses, vistas and story. Bank and castle. Border line and disputed lands. Carham (?) Treaty / Battle. Settled Communities. Kelso Bridge 1800 -04 J Rennie Architecture model for Waterloo Bridge, London. Demolished 1936 ? retained. 18thC progress town today, traffic, lands at peace. Making down river. Birgham. Ancient settlement. Relics of 19thC. Village Well 1884 / pump. 1291 there was a bridge over Tweed, hence meeting place. Kings & Knights plunderers and pilgrims have all passed this way. New Colour: heraldic emblem oil seed crop.. Coldstream Bridge 18thC reinforced 1960s. Burns 7/5/1787. Cauld my ain my dearest land. Norham Bridge: Structure geog / natural position. Swans / fishing pool James IV Ladykirk Church. Norham Houses, salmon on weathervane. Berwick new girder Bridge, carriageway and sceneic east traffic n/s. Haar shrouds Tweed's melting with the sea. 3 bridges 1660s 1920s Rail Old Low Bridge. Bold statement in concrete. Clad steel of 30s. Passge for steam horse now serves electricial age. ? Filming began 13/4/92 to 10/6/92. 14 days in those ? edit completed 25/6/92. Script and research idea begun Nov 91 Commentary 4 days drafting."

This title screened at the Berwick on Tweed Film & Media Arts Festival: Crossing Borders, on Thursday 22nd September 2005.

Credits: research, camera work, production, editing and graphics by John Jackson.
Filmed in 16mm

Shotlist: [shotlisted from VHS, manual timecode]

title (0.06) gvs River Tweed, some anglers, houses on banks, general views (1.49) shot of bridge in foreground, town behind it (1.49) view of Kelso, focus is on the bridge in foreground (2.49) gvs Kelso, including Town Hall (3.17) Kelso Bridge, river (3.41) gvs Birgham, including site of village well dated '1884' - now a tap - and exts Fishermans Arms (4.17) gvs river and landscape (4.27) yellow oil seed rape field (4.31) At Birgham in 1291 The several competitors for the Scottish throne meet the commissioners of Edward I line drawings of historical events (4.49) shot over brightly coloured oil seed rape field (5.06) gvs Coldstream Bridge and river (6.19) Norham Bridge (7.04) exts Ladykirk Church (7.30) Norham Bridge. gvs houses at Norham, c/u weathervane with a salmon on it (7.46) gvs river, anglers (8.02) girder bridge, Berwick with traffic passing over it (8.44) views of Berwick and the bridges there - Berwick Bridge, Royal Tweed Bridge and Royal Border Bridge. Sequence starts in very misty conditions (haar) but later filmed in bright sunshine. [Note:- the old bridge looks to be undergoing repair work (11.03) Berwick harbour and view out to sea (11.09) The fine bridges which span Tweed are but a few stars in that great galaxy of interest Our Borderland (11.21) ecs (11.32)




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