Brig o' Doon

Brig o' Doon
Crosses River Doon
Characteristics
Longest span 72 feet (22 m)
Number of spans Single
Statistics
Daily traffic Pedestrian
For other uses, see Brigadoon (disambiguation).

The Brig o' Doon, sometimes called the Auld Brig or Old Bridge of Doon is a late medieval bridge in Ayrshire, Scotland.

History

The bridge is thought to have been built in the early fifteenth century. According to John R. Hume, the bridge was built by James Kennedy, who died in 1465, but the first recorded mention is in 1512.[1] The bridge was described as "ruinous" in 1593.[1]

The bridge features on the 2007 series of £5 notes issued by the Bank of Scotland, alongside the statue to Robert Burns that is located in Dumfries.[2]

Design

The view over the bridge to the south-west

The bridge is located near Alloway and crosses the River Doon. It is a single arched bridge, with a steeply humped span of 72 feet (22 m) and a rise of 26 feet (7.9 m).[3] It has been repaired many times, most recently in 1978, and many parts of the stonework do not match.[1]

The B7024 public road is carried over the River Doon New Bridge of Doon, a single arch stone bridge built downstream of the old one in 1816 to cope with increasing traffic.[1][4] The old bridge was sold to the builders of the new bridge as a quarry for material, and money was raised to purchase the old bridge back, but the Trustees of the new bridge decided to quarry somewhere else.[5]

In literature

The line of the cobbles in the roadway is cranked, due to the belief that this pattern would stop witches from crossing.[3]

It is used as the setting for the final verse of the Robert Burns's poem Tam o' Shanter. In this scene Tam is on horseback and is being chased by Nannie the witch. He is just able to escape her by crossing the bridge (over a running stream) narrowly avoiding her attack as she is only able to grab the horse's tail which comes away in her hands. - "The carlin caught her by the rump and left puir Meg wi' scarce a stump."

The Broadway musical Brigadoon also takes its name from this site, though the musical's location is imaginary.[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brig o' Doon.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Ayr, Alloway, Brig O' Doon". Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "Banknote Design Features: Bank of Scotland Bridges Series". The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Ayr, Alloway, Brig O' Doon". rcahms.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Brig o' Doon". undiscoveredscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  5. ↑ Paterson, James (1840). The contemporaries of Burns: and the more recent poets of Ayrshire. H. Paton. p. 390.
  6. ↑ Shelby, Barry (2010). Frommer's Edinburgh and Glasgow. John Wiley & Sons. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-470-97808-5.

Coordinates: 55°25′33″N 4°38′13″W / 55.425882°N 4.636831°W