Barrass Bridge as it looks Today
Barras Bridge is a section of the B1318 Great North Road in the centre of Newcastle which leads towards the Haymarket and Percy Street. On the east side of Barras Bridge are the Civic Centre, The Response War Memorial and the Church of St Thomas the Martyr. To the west side is the main campus of Newcastle University, Northern Stage, and a number of shops.
The original Barras Bridge was a stone bridge over Pandon Dean. Its hard to imagine, but a tree-lined valley once ran through where todays Great North Road, Civic Centre and Barras Bridge road are located. Pandon Burn flowed through the Dean down to the River Tyne. Pandon Dean was curvetted (built over) in the 19th and 20th centuries; in places it was as wide as Jesmond Dene.