Publication Account

Date 1998

Event ID 1019261

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019261

Tolls had also to be paid to cross the new bridge over the Tweed, which joined the communities of Melrose and Gattonside. Constructed in 1826, it is a footbridge with iron-link suspension chains, iron rods as vertical suspenders and a wooden deck. The Chain Bridge figures 14 & 22.G no longer charges tolls, which was one of the factors in the abandoning of the use of the ford, a little further east. Chain Bridge Farm, at the south end of the bridge, is the former toll house figure 22.D. A single storeyed building, with an attic, its central door, which is now masked by a timber porch, was aligned with the bridge; and it was here that payment was made.

Information from ‘Historic Melrose: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1998).