WELCOME TO NORTHERN ENGLAND

An aerial look at Causey Arch near Stanley, County Durham - one of the most important early railway structures in the world. Built in the 1720s, Causey Arch carried the Tanfield Waggonway over the Causey Burn. This was railway history before steam locomotives and passenger stations, when horse-drawn coal wagons moved along wooden rails towards the River Tyne. Historic England describes Causey Arch as probably the first railway bridge in the world. It was designed and built by local mason Ralph Wood, but his story adds a tragic human side to the engineering. Local tradition says Wood feared the arch would collapse after an earlier timber bridge had failed, and that he took his own life before seeing the stone arch prove itself. Nearly 300 years later, Causey Arch still stands - a remarkable piece of North East industrial ambition, and a reminder that progress often came with pressure, risk and human cost.

A beautiful aerial look around some of the landmarks that help define the North. From Raby Castle to Tynemouth Priory, the Angel of the North to Durham Cathedral, this short video brings together castles, coast, sculpture, faith, history and landscape in one sweeping look across the region. Northern Perspectives captures real places across the North - from the famous landmarks everyone knows to the overlooked corners that deserve more attention.

An aerial look at Prudhoe Castle in Northumberland, overlooking the River Tyne. The castle began with the Umfraville family and guarded an important crossing point on the Tyne. Its strongest claim to fame came in the 1170s, when William the Lion of Scotland attacked Prudhoe in 1173 and again in 1174. Both attempts failed, helping secure the castle’s reputation as one of Northumberland’s toughest strongholds. The site later passed to the Percy family, and in the 19th century a Regency Gothic house was built within the medieval castle walls. Prudhoe’s current situation is part of the story too. After closure concerns in 2025, English Heritage now lists the outer grounds as free to access daily, with the inner castle open on selected dates, tours and events.

A look at the ruins of Beaurepaire, hidden just outside Durham near Bearpark. Although often called Beaurepaire Priory, the site was really the Prior of Durham’s manor house - a country retreat for the monastic community at Durham Cathedral. It was built in 1258 by Bertram de Middleton, Prior of Durham, with a chapel, living quarters, courtyards and service buildings. The name Beaurepaire is thought to come from Beau Repaire, meaning “beautiful retreat”. Over time, that name survived locally as Bearpark, giving the nearby village a direct link to the medieval house. Beaurepaire was important enough to receive royal visitors, with Edward I, Edward II and Edward III all recorded here between 1296 and 1335. It was damaged around the time of the Battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346, later rebuilt, and then badly damaged again during the conflicts of the 1640s. What remains now is a quiet set of ruins above the River Browney, but the story behind them is anything but ordinary.

An aerial look at Victoria Viaduct over the River Wear near Washington. Opened on 28 June 1838, Queen Victoria’s coronation day, the viaduct was built for the Durham Junction Railway and carried the early London to Newcastle route until 1868. Designed by James Walker under Thomas Elliot Harrison, it was built from Penshaw sandstone, with Aberdeen granite used on the main arch stones. After passenger services ended in the 1960s and freight use later declined, the Leamside route was mothballed. But Victoria Viaduct may still have a future. Metro to Washington is planned as a 13km extension linking Pelaw and South Hylton via Washington, using former railway alignments including part of the Leamside Line. This is railway history with a possible second life - a bridge built for the first great age of rail, now sitting inside plans for the next stage of North East transport.

A look at Smailholm Tower in the Scottish Borders - a 15th-century tower built for a world of raids, livestock, family defence and hard Borders survival. Built by the Pringle family in the early 1400s, Smailholm stood in reiver country, where cattle and horses could vanish in a night. Historic Environment Scotland records that in two raids in 1544, Northumberland reivers took more than 700 cattle and 100 horses from the Pringles. The tower later passed to the Scotts of Harden, and nearby Sandyknowe Farm became closely linked with the childhood of Sir Walter Scott. Sent there as a sickly child, Scott heard Border ballads and local stories that helped shape his writing. Smailholm has also had a modern survival story. Historic Environment Scotland placed access restrictions on a number of sites while carrying out high-level masonry inspections, and Smailholm Tower is now listed as open again seasonally.

A look at Ellerton Priory, hidden away in a field in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. The site began as a small Cistercian nunnery dedicated to St Mary, probably founded around 1200. It was a modest religious house, with Historic England suggesting it may have had only around thirteen nuns at its height, and possibly as few as five by 1381. Its history was far from easy. The priory was badly damaged by Scottish raiders in 1347, then surrendered to the Crown during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536. What makes Ellerton especially interesting is the ruin itself. The church contains medieval fabric, but parts were remodelled in the 19th century as a romantic Gothic ruin, designed to be seen from nearby Ellerton Abbey House. So the site carries medieval religion, border violence, post-Dissolution change and Victorian taste in one quiet Swaledale field.

A short aerial look at Aycliffe Water Tower, one of the more unusual structures around School Aycliffe and Newton Aycliffe. Local references put the tower’s construction around 1949, with a capacity of roughly 150,000 gallons. It is believed to have supplied the former Aycliffe Hospital, which stood nearby before closing in the 1990s. The tower also connects into the wider Aycliffe story - from ROF Aycliffe and the Aycliffe Angels during the Second World War, to the post-war industrial estate and Newton Aycliffe’s designation as a new town in 1947. It might be blunt concrete rather than grand architecture, but it belongs to a place shaped by war work, welfare thinking, industry, housing and practical public services.

An aerial look at Tees Newport Bridge, where the engineering is impressive enough - but the reflections on the River Tees completely take over. Opened in 1934, Newport Bridge links Middlesbrough and Stockton, and was built by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough. Designed as a vertical-lift bridge, its central span could be raised to allow shipping to pass along the Tees. This short video looks at the bridge from above, with the steelwork, river and sky all lining up for a view that shows industrial Teesside at its best.