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Field Visit
Date 25 October 1920
Event ID 1115436
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1115436
Musselburgh Bridge.
Towards the western end of the burgh, beside the station, the river Esk is crossed by a handsome stone bridge (Fig. 23 [SC1234622]), which in part is at least as early as the 16th century. The Esk at this point is about 150 feet in width and is spanned in two arches, while a third arch, out of alignment with the two first mentioned, carries the roadway over the low right bank of the river to the higher ground beyond; between the second and third arches there was a gate. The arches are segmental in form and have an average span of 51 feet; the width at soffit is 13 feet 4 inches. Between the arches are projecting cut-waters and the southern of these are carried up to parapet level to form refuges. The arch ring is in one course and is shielded by a projecting drip-stone; the masonry is of coursed rubble. The roadway is arched and is cobbled at the surface; the approaches being considerably lower than the roadway, the latter is now reached by steps at either end of the bridge; the traffic consequently is confined to pedestrians. Immediately above the bridge is a lord. The bridge is in good preservation.
HISTORICAL NOTE. The erection of the bridge is attributed by Nisbet to Jean or Janet, wife of the Lord Seton who fell at Flodden, and who herself died in 1558 (1). She carried out much building in the Collegiate Church of Seton (2).
In 1597 the Scottish Parliament passed an Act for the repairing of the bridge. The Town Council Minutes of 1687 refer to the ‘mid-bow’, so that the additional arch was then in existence, possibly as the result of the repair of 1597. In the same year and place there is a reference to ‘the bridgend doores’ (3).
RCAHMS 1929, visited 25 October 1920.
In Genealogy of the House, etc., of Setoun, by Sir Richard Maitland, edited by Chas. K. Sharpe, Edinb. 1830, p. x. Maitland, however, says nothing of the bridge; (2) See Inventory of Monuments in East Lothian, No. 191 ; (3) History of the Regality of Musselburgh, by James Paterson, p. 80.
