Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands
Date 2007
Event ID 929293
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/929293
Royal Bridge, Ballater
The present bridge crossing the Dee at Ballater has four 63 ft span low-rise segmental masonry arches constructed of local granite. Its design is similar to that used by Telford for his Highland bridges except for the stepped parapet in elevation. The bridge was completed in 1885 to a
design by Jenkins and Marr and the contractor was John Fyfe, Kemnay.
The bridge is on the site of three earlier bridges, the first of which was built from 1781–83 by James Robertson and destroyed by a flood in 1799. The second, designed by Telford and erected by John Simpson from 1807–09, was destroyed in the great Moray flood of 1829. Its centring was probably re-used at Laigh Milton Viaduct (5-4).
These bridges were of masonry, but the third, on a plan prepared under Telford’s direction, retaining the gentle arc of the parapet in elevation, was an outstanding timber bridge with four 70 ft spans, basically of traditional construction with slim timber-clad piers, erected by Gibb & Son in 1834–35 under Mitchell’s superintendence. It utilised the 1809 abutments and was ‘built entirely of Braemar natural timber . . . contract price £1857’, a modest cost for a quickly erected replacement which served for 50 years. A drawing was published in 1835 in the 21st Report of the Highland Roads and Bridges Commission.
R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
