The old bridge at Sandsend, painted in 1802 by Thomas Girtin. Image taken from Yale Center for British Art’s catalogue.
The modern road bridge sits approx. where the artist is standing. The cottages in the background are also still present and clearly visible as is the former route down towards the bridge. By 1853, this bridge had been replaced by a new bridge in the same location as the modern one. Later in the 19th Century a railway bridge would also be built at this location.
The Whitworth at The University of Manchester also has an early pencil sketch of the scene that later became this painting – though, interestingly, it contains a set of steps on the right of the bridge that lead down to the river that features far less prominently in the finished work.