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Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 610123
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/610123
Guard Bridge, of six arches over the Eden, is thought to have been built under the aegis of Bishop Henry
Wardlaw, founder of St Andrews University, in about 1440, or possibly even by Bishop Kennedy ca.1460. It is a
good example of one of Scotland’s earliest surviving pre- Reformation bridges. The first four arches from the west have spans of 38 ft to 42 ft and appear original. Their shape is almost semicircular and the masonry construction is of well-squared rubble. The most easterly arch seems to be either an addition or an early replacement, as six arches were recorded in 1792. Wardlaw’s bridge may have been partly replaced in 1532–39 by Archbishop James Beaton, as the bridge bears his coat of arms and initials on one pier.
Nothing is known about the foundations, but the masonry shows no sign of significant settlement. A remarkable feature is that the arch-rings are only 15 in. thick, much less than if determined by Alberti’s Rule (1470), which would suggest one-fifteenth of the arch span as an appropriate thickness. This is indicative of considerable skill in forming the arch-rings. The bridge has differing triangular cutwater and pier elevations, which is suggestive of building at different periods.
The bridge was bypassed by the present three-span reinforced concrete bridge of 1935–37 (NO41NE ) by F. A. MacDonald
& Partners but is still much used by pedestrians.
Paxton and Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
