Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 606574
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/606574
Two miles south of Friarton Bridge (NO 1304 2160) is the Bridge of Earn, a finely proportioned masonry bridge now carrying the A912 across the Earn on three equal semielliptical arches of 75 ft span. It was designed by John Rennie, built in 1819, and is still in service. His drawing was published in Cresy’s Treatise on Bridge-Building, Williams, London 1839.
Since widening in 1935 the bridge’s original facades on each side have been obscured.Despite a measure of ingenuity, the appearance of the bridge was not enhanced by this widening, which was achieved by means of reinforced concrete continuous girders of varying depth forming cellular construction. Mock voussoirs are inscribed in the concrete arch-ring but this does not exactly follow the extrados of the old bridge which is visible behind like petticoats showing below a skirt. The Bridge of Earn widening was designed by F. A. Macdonald & Partners, the consulting engineer was Dugald McLellan, and the contractor Murdoch McKenzie Ltd.
R Paxton and J Shipway
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
