Archaeology Notes
Event ID 841276
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/841276
NT17NW 171.00 12535 79638 (NT 12468 78249 to NT 12589 80796)
The Forth Road Bridge (Toll) [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map [no date available].
NT17NW 171.01 NT 12439 78049 Toll
For Forth Rail Bridge (NT 1390 7790 to 1315 8082), see NT17NW 70.
For wreck of SS Telesilla (adjacent to North Pier), see NT18SW 8004.
NMRS REFERENCE:
Non-Guardianship Sites Plan Collection, DC23753.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
The Dumbarton ship building firm of William Denny & Brothers Ltd, in conjunction with British Railways operated the ferry service between North and South Queensferry on the Firth of Forth. In 1934, Denny built two ships for the ferry, these were joined by a further two vessels, also built by Denny, in 1949 and 1956. During the summer months all four vessels provided a frequent service. A three boat service operated during the winter months.
Information from The Royal Burgh of Dumbarton, The Official Guide, Sixth Edition, c.1960.
(Location cited as NT 124 782 to 126 808). Suspension bridge of parallel wire cables type. Built 1958-64 by Freeman, Fox & Partners, engineers. Steel girder pylons. Single spun wire cable on each side, wire rope suspenders, deep truss deck. Clear span 3,300 ft (1006m), total span 5,980 ft (1823m). Public road bridge.
J R Hume 1977b.
Mott, Hay & Anderson began their report on the feasability and siting of the road bridge in 1926. The Joint Board set up in 1947 confirmed their appointment as consulting engineers together with Freeman, Fox & Partners, Giles Gilbert Scott & Partners being the consultant architects. The site was one of those originally recommended, using the Mackintosh Rock on the N side to support one of the two towers of a suspension bridge. Treasury authority was given in 1958 and the Queen opened the bridge in 1964.
It was not a pioneer work of its kind like the rail bridge (NT17NW 70), and its design owed much to previous experience, not least to the lesson of the Tacoma Narrows bridge, USA, which collapsed as a result of rhythmic movement induced by wind pressure. This is one reason for the absence of continuous surfaces to the sides, which in turn contributes to the main quality of the bridge if it is seen as a work of architecture.
The carriageway, unlike that of the rail bridge, is predominant, rising and falling in an easy curve 1830m in length between the box girders of the approach viaducts; the main span accounts for just over 1000m of this. The only other elements are the two steel towers, 150m high, simply latticed between their slightly tapering legs, which carry saddles for the cables whose calligraphic curve complements that of the carriageway, and then disappears underneath it to anchorages in the rock. The only suspicion of 'applied architecture' is the design of the arched concrete piers, whose job is not only to carry the last girders of the approach, but also to take the eccentric strain of the cables before they run to ground. The dual carriageway is supported by lattice trusses, elegantly pointed at the extreme ends.
The experience of crossing it, attaining the greatest height at the furtest distance from land, is made less exciting (but doubtless safer) by the steel grid crash-barriers blocking the sideways and downwards view; the slightly later Severn Bridge improved on this. Cross-girders outside the trusses support a track for cyclists and pedestrians. Undoubtedly the best way to see the bridge, and the views from it, is to walk.
The Administration Building at the S end, with curved-up eaves that are not inappropriate to the levitation effect of the bridge itself, is by Giles Gilbert Scott & Partners. Wheeler & Sproson added the garages for service vehicles in 1969, tactfully concealing them to avoid clutter.
C McWilliam 1978.
Spans Forth from South Queensferry and North Queensferry. Undergoing repairs.
Site recorded by GUARD during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, 'The Firth of Forth from Dunbar to the Coast of Fife' 18th February 1996.
This bridge carries the A90 (T) public road across the inner estuary of the River Forth at the Queensferry Narrows, between the parishes of Dalmeny (in the former county of West Lothain and City of Edinburgh District of Lothian Region) and Inverkeithing (in the former county of Fife and Dunfermline District of Fife Region). There are toll booths and an administration building at the S end.
This bridge forms a notable panorama with the corresponding rail bridge (NT17NW 70) which stands a short distance to the E. The N ends of the two bridges lie close together, but they diverge towards the S, the village of South Queensferry (NT17NW 175) lying between them. Like the rail bridge, this bridge over-arches the village of North Queensferry (NT18SW 121).
The location assigned to this record defines the midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence indicates that it extends from NT c. 12468 78249 to NT c. 12589 80796.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 3 March 2006.
The Forth Road Bridge (toll) [NAT]
OS (GIS) MasterMap, December 2010.
