List of crossings of the River Swale

This is a list of current bridges and other crossings of the River Swale in North Yorkshire, and are listed downstream to the river's mouth. The River Swale is listed on mapping as starting where Birkdale Beck meets Great Sleddale Beck. (SE473604).^[1] The river flows for about 70 miles (110 km) before joining the River Ure near Myton-on-Swale, and then later, the Ure becomes the River Ouse.^[2] The list below includes permanent bridges and crossings; structures such as the conveyor belt linking the different areas of Killerby Quarry east of Catterick village are not included. Several bridges have been removed, notably railway bridges, such as the one which used to carry the Leeds & Thirsk Railway over the river just to the north of Topcliffe.

Hoggarth's Bridge was a two-arched structure which crossed the River Swale above Wain Wath Force, and it was swept away in 1899; its replacement, High Bridge, was built slightly downstream of the predecessor.^[3][4] The bridge at Gunnerside was swept away in a flood in 1890,^[5] and the suspension bridge at Reeth, first installed in 1925, was swept away in flooding in the year 2000. Flash floods are known on the river with the bridge at Grinton sometimes being flooded to a depth of 18 feet (5.5 m) so that only the tops of the bridge parapets can be seen in the floodwater.^[6]

As with other river locations in Northern England, especially in the old North Riding of Yorkshire, many bridges were built at the locations of fords across the river. One example of this is Scabba Wath Bridge. Wath comes from the Old Norse vað meaning ford.^[7]