Piercebridge

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Many thanks to The George Hotel for facilitating this camera's location and to The Tees Rivers Trust for capitally funding its installation.The River Tees rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the Pennines, and flows eastwards for about 85 miles to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar. It drains an area of 708 square miles and subsumes no important tributaries. The head of the valley, whose upper portion is known as Teesdale, has a desolate grandeur, surrounded by hills, some exceeding 2500 feet, and bleak moorland. This area is part of the North Pennine Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, recently designated a geological Europark, the first in the UK. Piercebridge is named after its Roman bridge or brigg: in 1104 it was Persebrig; in 1577 it was Priestbrigg. It is thought that pierce comes from pershe, meaning osiers, perhaps because the bridge was at least partly made of osier twigs in 1050 when the name is first recorded. Alternative suggested meanings, of 'priest' and the name 'Piers', would be too modern in origin for such an old place name.