Entering Newcastle from the South you will immediately be struck by the surprising urban panorama. The isolated Gateshead district is linked to the North Bank of Newcastle by bridges which together form an unusualcomposition. The eldest bridge is the strange High Level Bridge by Robert Stephenson (1848), the high level lending itself to rail travel and the lower level to the motorist. The brightly coloured Swing Bridge (1876) which looks like a ship, was designed by lord Armstrong.