Craigellachie Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Illustration of the bridge from the 1838 Atlas to the Life of Thomas Telford.

Craigellachie Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge located in Speyside, Moray, Scotland at Craigellachie which is near to the village of Aberlour. It was designed by the renowned civil engineer Thomas Telford and built from 1812–1814. The bridge has a single span of approximately 46 m and was revolutionary for its time, in that it used an extremely slender arch which was not possible using traditional masonry construction. The ironwork was cast at the Plas Kynaston iron foundry at Cefn Mawr, near Ruabon in Denbighshire by William Hazledine, who cast a number of Telford bridges.

At each end of the structure there are two 15 m high masonry mock-medieval towers, featuring arrow slits and miniature crenellated battlements.

The south abutment of the bridge in 2003

The road to the north of the bridge takes a sharp right-angled turn to avoid a rock face, making it unsuitable for modern vehicles. Despite this it carried foot and vehicle traffic across the River Spey until 1972, when its function was replaced by a reinforced concrete bridge which carries the A941 trunk road today. Telford's bridge remains in good condition, and is still open to pedestrians and cyclists. The bridge has been given Category A listed status by Historic Scotland.

The bridge inspired a popular Strathspey, written by William Marshall in 1814.

It was also the site of a parade upon the amalgamation of The Gordon Highlanders and The Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) to form The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons) in 1994. A plaque has been fitted to the bridge parapet to commemorate this. Another plaque records the bridge's restoration in 1964.