Publication Account

Date 2007

Event ID 1019588

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019588

In this year in which the 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Telford is celebrated and RCAHMS has undertaken the HLF-supported project Telford in the Highlands’, it seemed appropriate to extend the route to visit one of Telford’s finest bridges. Craigellachie was built between 1812 and 1814, and incorporates the earliest surviving pre-fabricated lozenge-lattice spandrel cast-iron design by Telford. It cost £8,200, which was £200 more than the estimate, and the money was found by the Parliamentary Commissioners and by local subscribers. It was restored in 1964 by Banff, Moray and Nairn County Councils.

The ironwork was cast at Plas Kynaston by William ‘Merlin’ Hazledine, Telford’s usual ironmaster, and was erected by William Stuttle, Telford’s foreman. The stonework was by John Simpson, mason, of Shrewsbury.

The bridge is situated to take advantage of the constriction formed by an outcrop of hard Moinian gneiss. Telford allowed for floods by placing the bridge on abutments 12" (3.7m) above normal water level; it withstood the flood of 1829, when the Spey here rose 15’ 6" (4.7m), although the flood arches were washed away.

The four ribs are mounted 15" (4.6 m) apart and they make an arc of smaller radius than the roadway, which partly accounts for the lightness of the bridge. The spandrels are formed of lozenge-lattice cast iron, which also contributes to the delicacy of the design. The castellated rustic ashlar towers that decorate the abutments are 50" (15.2m) high and are hollow with false arrow slits.

This bridge, which was by-passed in 1972, formerly carried the A941 public road over the River Spey between the parishes of Knockando (to the north) and Aberlour (to the south), within the pre-1975 counties of Moray and Banffshire respectively. RCAHMS’ extensive collections on the bridge include drawings and photographs from the nineteenth centuries and twentieth centuries. It was recorded by RCAHMS in 1980, and detailed drawings of its structure were made by Geoffrey Hay and were published in Monuments of Industry.

Information from ‘Commissioners’ Field Meeting 2007'.