Alternative Names Craigellachie Bridge; Craigellachie Pot; River Spey; Old Bridge
Site Type ROAD BRIDGE
Canmore ID 16336
Site Number NJ24NE 15
NGR NJ 28532 45194
Council MORAY
Parish KNOCKANDO
Former Region GRAMPIAN
Former District MORAY
Former County MORAYSHIRE
Datum OSGB36 - NGR

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Treasured Places - HLF funded

Built between 1812-15, the Craigellachie Bridge spans the River Spey and was designed by engineer Thomas Telford. It is the oldest surviving cast-iron bridge in Scotland and is considered one of the finest of its type in Britain. Castellated stone abutments support four ribs that form the single arch of the bridge, above which the roadway is carried by latticed girders.

Information from RCAHMS (SC) 6 August 2007

An image of this site has been nominated as one of Scotland's favourite archive images. For more information about the project visit http://www.treasuredplaces.org.uk

Notes and Activities

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Archaeological Notes

NJ24NE 15 28531 45199

Telford Bridge [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map, 1976.

Telford Bridge [NAT]
OS (GIS) AIB, April 2006.

For successor bridge (adjacent to E), see NJ24NE 26.

NMRS REFERENCE:
Architect: Thomas Telford, 1815.
(Undated) information in NMRS.

(Location cited as NJ 285 452). Craigellachie Bridge. This bridge was built in 1812-15 by engineer Thomas Telford and is one of the finest cast-iron bridges in Britain. A single 150ft (45.7m) arched span, with 4 ribs, is supported by rustic ashlar abutments, with castellated terminals and rubble wing walls. One of the terminals (on the Banff side) has 2 cast-iron plaques with the legends 'CAST AT PLAS KYNASTON RUABON DENBEIGHSHIRE' and '1814'.
J R Hume 1977.

This bridge is the oldest surviving iron bridge in Scotland. It cost 8,200 pounds sterling, which was 200 pounds sterling more than the estimate, and the money was found by the Parliamentary Commissioners and by local subscribers. It was restored in 1964 by Banff, Moray and Nairn County Councils, and by-passed in 1972.
The ironwork was cast at Plas Kynaston by William 'Merlin' Hazledine, Telford's normal ironmaster. It was erected by William Stuttle, Telford's foreman, and the stonework was by John Simpson, mason, of Shrewsbury.
The bridge is situated to take advantage the constriction formed by an outcrop of hard Moinian gneiss. Telford allowed for floods by placing the bridge on abutments 12'(3.7m) above normal water level; it withstood the flood of 1829, when the Spey here rose 15' 6" (4.7m), although the flood arches were washed away.
The four ribs are mounted 15' (4.6m) apart and they make an arc of smaller radius than the roadway, which partly accounts for the lightness of the bridge. The spandrels are formed of diamond lattice which also contributes to the delicacy of the design. The castellated rustic ashlar towers that decorate the abutments are 50' (15.2m) high and hollow with false arrow slits; they are perhaps rather heavy.
G Nelson 1990

This bridge formerly carried the A941 public road over the River Spey between the parishes of Knockando (to the N) and Aberlour (to the S), within the pre-1975 counties of Morayshire and Banffshire respectively. Both these parishes fall within the post-1975 Moray District of Grampian Region.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 7 December 1995.

The location assigned to this record defines the apparent midpoint of the span. The available map evidence suggests that it extends from NJ c. 28523 45224 to NJ c. 28542 45164.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 7 April 2006.

1 January 1812 to 31 December 1815

CONSTRUCTION

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1962	PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD

Notes Photographs taken prior to conservation work being carried out.

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1 January 1962 to 31 December 1964

CONSERVATION

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1 August 1963 to 31 August 1963

PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY

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1981	MEASURED SURVEY

Project 1981 RCAHMS Industrial Survey

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20 September 1997

FIELD VISIT

Project JR Hume Industrial Archaeology Survey

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2007	PUBLICATION ACCOUNT

Project Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands snd Islands

Notes Craigellachie Bridge
This bridge (see front cover), built from 1812–14, incorporates the earliest surviving prefabricated lozenge lattice spandrel cast-iron arch designed by Telford, the first being the main arch of the almost identical Bonar Bridge
(1812–92). At least ten arches of this state-of-the-art genre were erected in Britain as far south as Tewkesbury by 1829. The ironwork was cast at William Hazledine’s foundry at Plas Kynaston, Ruabon, Denbighshire, transported by sea to Speymouth and then by wagon to Craigellachie. The
contractors were John Simpson and John Cargill. The ironwork was erected on pre-erected centring in August and September 1814 under the direction of William Stuttle, Hazledine’s foreman. The bridge was opened two months later.
The bridge spans the Spey with a single arch of 150 ft span and a rise of 20 ft, and three stone arches of 15 ft span on the south-east approach. The iron deck plates of the 1312 ft wide roadway are supported by a series of
braced cruciform struts carried on four lattice arch ribs. These ribs are 2 1/2 in. thick and 3 ft deep, cast in seven sections, each about 23 ft long. The cost of the bridge and its approach roads, from the south-east over the floodplain and from the north via a gallery cut into the cliff overhanging
the river and right-angle bend, was £8200 of which less than half was for the ironwork.
The bridge, with minor modifications, continued in use until 1963–64 when it was reconstructed above the archribs, with significant retention of ironwork and character, by W. W. Lowson, partner of W. A. Fairhurst & Partners, Aberdeen, for Banff, Moray and Nairn Councils. The original cast-iron deck plates were retained. The main items of new, near matching, steelwork, were the side railings and spandrel bracing.
The configuration and lightness of this innovative bridge type to achieve permanent crossings at sites impracticable for founding stone bridges, particularly as here in deep and fast-moving water, demonstrates Telford and Hazledine’s mastery of cast-iron in bridge construction.The bridge was bypassed and closed to vehicles in 1972 when its pre-stressed concrete replacement just downstream, also designed by W. A. Fairhurst, was opened. Craigellachie Bridge is now in the stewardship of Moray
Council as an outstanding historical and scenic amenity used by pedestrians and cyclists.
R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.


Further details

 

Books and References

Architect Prospect (1960) 'Craigellachie: the iron bridge' [photograph], Architect Prospect Spring 1960
Page(s): 26

Bracegirdle and Miles, B and P H (1973) Thomas Telford, Great engineers and their works series Newton Abbot
Page(s): 49 Held at RCAHMS H.2.TEL

Butt, J (1967) The industrial archaeology of Scotland, The industrial archaeology of the British Isles series Newton Abbot
Page(s): 232 Held at RCAHMS J.4.11.BUT

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