Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 578438
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/578438
This 1655 bridge spans the Gala Water directly opposite the church at the south end of the village and is easily seen from the A7. The overall length of the structure, which is partly a causeway, is about 125 ft and includes three segmental arches increasing in size from 10 ft to the main span of 47 ft which has a rise of about 12 ft and an arch ring of thin undressed stone. The bridge was built by the Kirk Session for the convenience of worshippers on the west bank of the river. It was no doubt also used by others as the former Edinburgh–Hawick road was then on the west bank of the Gala Water. Today the bridge comes under the jurisdiction of the Community Council. By the late 1990s the condition of its land arch had deteriorated to such an extent that action was taken in 2001 to prevent its collapse and preserve the original stonework at the cost in appearance of an unsightly steel reinforced lime concrete supporting arch.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
