Clachan Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Clachan Bridge.

View from the Clachan Bridge, looking north. Seil Island is on the left and the mainland on the right.

The Clachan Bridge is a simple, single-arched, hump-backed masonry bridge spanning the Clachan Sound, 13 kilometres southwest of Oban in Argyll, Scotland.

The bridge links the west coast of the Scottish mainland with the island of Seil. Originally designed by Thomas Telford,^[1] and built between 1792 and 1793 by local engineer Robert Mylne, the bridge became known as 'The Bridge across the Atlantic'. It was designed with a high arch, of roughly 22 metres span and about 12 metres above the bed of the channel, to allow the passage of vessels of up to 40 tonnes at high tide.

The bridge is still in use today, forming part of the B844 road, and is in the care of Historic Scotland.

[edit] Wildlife

The south wall of the bridge has been colonised by Fairy Foxglove (Erinus alpinus).

Occasionally whales have become trapped in the narrow Clachan Sound. In 1835 a whale measuring 24 metres (78 feet) with a lower jaw of 7 metres (21 feet) was stranded having become trapped in shallow water and unable to reverse out. In 1837 192 pilot whales were caught in a similar fashion, the largest being 8 metres (26 feet) long.^[1]