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Kenmore, Old Bridge

Road Bridge (18th Century)

Site Name Kenmore, Old Bridge

Classification Road Bridge (18th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Loch Tay; River Tay

Canmore ID 24947

Site Number NN74NE 61

NGR NN 7715 4554

NGR Description NN c. 7715 4554

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/24947

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Perth And Kinross
  • Parish Kenmore (Perth And Kinross)
  • Former Region Tayside
  • Former District Perth And Kinross
  • Former County Perthshire

Archaeology Notes

NN74NE 61.00 c. 7715 4554

NN74NE 61.01 NN 7715 4554 (present) Road Bridge

Location formerly entered as NN 771 455.

A temporary bridge crossed the Tay at NN 771 455 before the construction of the present bridge in 1774.

T Pennant 1776

No vestige of previous bridge.

Visited by OS 29 November 1978.

Activities

Construction (1774)

Notable five span masonry bridge. Built 1774.

R Paxton and J Shipway 2007; A Skempton 2002

Project (2007)

This project was undertaken to input site information listed in 'Civil engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' by R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.

Publication Account (2007)

A notable segmental arch masonry bridge in a picturesque setting with five spans of 20 ft, 45 ft, 55 ft, 45 ft and 20 ft erected over the Tay at the east end of Loch Tay in 1774 and now carrying the A827 road. It was designed by John Baxter, built under the direction of Capt. Archibald Campbell, and funded by Lord Breadalbane and a grant of £1000 from the Annexed Estates Fund. From here in 1842 Queen Victoria viewed the magnificent scene

westwards which was compared by Sir Walter Scott ‘to a mirrory plain of molten silver set in a frame of mountain arabesque’.

This is a good early example of a Scottish stone bridge with the dual ornamental and weight reduction provision

in its spandrels of oculi or circular voids. Unlike Smeaton’s more effective engineering provision of longitudinal

cavities at Perth Bridge you can actually see through these oculi. The building stone is a chlorite schist

or slate from a local quarry.

R Paxton and J Shipway

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.

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