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Brenchoillie Bridge
Road Bridge (18th Century)
Site Name Brenchoillie Bridge
Classification Road Bridge (18th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Brenchoille Bridge; Leacann Water; Furnace
Canmore ID 109032
Site Number NN00SW 16
NGR NN 02339 01900
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/109032
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Kilmichael Glassary
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NN00SW 16 02339 01900
Location formerly cited as NN 0234 0190.
NN 0234 0191. Bridge (NR)
(OS 1:50000 map 1997)
Brenchoillie Bridge, circa 1780, signposted as an historic bridge.
Visited by OS GHN) November 1996.
This bridge carries a track leading to Brenchoillie house (NN00SW 33.00) over the Leacann Water about 1.75km N of Furnace village (NN00SW 32). The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Kilmichael Glassary (to the W) and Inveraray (to the E).
The bridge is depicted, but not noted, on the 1975 edition of the OS 1:10,000 map.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 17 May 2006.
Construction (1770 - 1799)
Built late 18th century. Builder unknown although may be influenced by Aray, Inveraray Bridge (1773-76, NN00NE )
Field Visit (June 1984)
This small two-arched bridge now carries a farm road across the Leacann Water, 1.8km N of Furnace and 0.5km SE of Brenchoillie farmhouse. There were at least two bridges spanning the Leacann by 1744, when the 'Laigh Bridge' was first mentioned, while in 1756 the Commissioners of Supply approved a proposal by the Argyll Furnace Company for a new bridge, possibly on the present site. At this period there was much discussion about road-lines in the area, but by the end of the 18th century the main road S of Auchindrain appears to have diverged from the present A83 about 150m NE of the Brenchoillie bridge (NN 024019), running along the hillside above the E bank of the Leacann Water to a bridge in Furnace village (en.1*).
The bridge at Brenchoillie, which linked this road with the routes from Lochaweside (No. 274), appears to reflect the influence of Mylne's Aray Bridge design of 1773 (No. 255), and was probably built in the last quarter of the 18th century. The bridge, which is built of lime-mortared rubble-masonry, measures 19m in length including the approaches, and carries a roadway 3.6m wide within 0.5m parapet-walls. The segmental E and W arches have respective spans of 4.6m and 4.3m, and each measures about 1.9m to the soffit from water-level, the voussoirs being formed by thin slabs about 0.6m long. Above the triangular cutwaters on both faces of the central pier there are circular recesses 1m in diameter and 0.2m in depth.
RCAHMS 1992, visited June 1984
Measured Survey (29 June 1984)
RCAHMS surveyed Brenchoillie Bridge on 29 June 1984 producing a plan and south elevation at a scale of 1:100. The plan and elevation were redrawn in ink and published at a scale of 1:250 (RCAHMS 1992, 505A).
Publication Account (2007)
R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007b
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highland and Islands' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
