The accommodation bridge adjacent to Brusselton Lane was badly damaged in July 2013 when thieves stole stone from the bridge. Shortly after this a small group of people came together with a view to carrying out restoration. Unfortunately little had happened by January 2014 when the Northern Echo carried an article highlighting the issue. This brought together more people and the Brusselton Incline Group (BIG) was formed in February 2014.
The bridge is part of a Scheduled Monument and BIG approached English Heritage (EH) for advice. However, ownership of the bridge proved to be difficult to find and whilst this was being pursued a site meeting with EH led to an application for Scheduled Monument Consent. This was granted in March 2014 and the Group immediately started clearing the whole of the embankment as requested by EH. Time was of the essence due to the proximity of the bird nesting season and, with the help of some specialist contractors, the bulk of the clearance was completed by early April.
The ownership of the bridge was found to lie with Durham County Council in early 2015 and the Group worked closely with them to develop a scheme to restore the bridge. This came to fruition in early 2017 when work on site started and this was completed in October that year.
BIG has continued to enhance the site with various small schemes and carries out regular weeding and tidying days to ensure that nature does not take over again and destroy all the hard work.
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