Archaeology Notes

Event ID 695673

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/695673

NN79NW 26 70876 98015

For predecessor Old Spey Bridge (NN c. 7087 9801), see NN79NW 58.

Spey Bridge [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map, [no date available].

(Location cited as NN 709 980). Newtonmore Bridge: this handsome bridge was built by Owen Williams and Maxwell Aryton in 1926, on what is now the B9150 near Newtonmore. It is the largest of those built at the modernisation of the A9.

Now neglected, it inclines from S to N across the 260ft [79.3m] wide valley; the N approach road is embanked.

The three arches decrease in size not only in height but also in width, the spans being 107ft [32.6m], 87ft [26.5m] and 67ft [20.4m] respectively. The voussoirs and parapet are moulded, and there are semi-hexagonal refuges at each end. Unlike Williams' bridge at Findhorn (NH82NW 69), this is a traditional shape for a masonry bridge, yet the concrete allows for effects that coursed stone cannot achieve in a bridge this size.

The spandrels are curved outwards, being 5ft [1.5m] thick at the bases and only 1ft [0.3m] at the parapet. The designers used the vertical expansion joints in the concrete to articulate thisspandrel curve, but this is now less evident than was intended on account of the growth of dark lichen. The smooth voussoirs come round and jut like the keels of boats, or massive arrowheads.

The piers have stepped bases, and are set on rocky outcrops in the river, which here flows gently between pebbly banks, and has a normal maximum depth of 30ft [9.1m]. Only the largest arch is normally over the river.

G Nelson 1990.

This bridge carries the former line of the A9 (T) public road (now the B9150) over the River Spey to the SW of Newtonmore.

The location assigned to this record defines the apparent midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence suggests that it extends from NN c. 70874 98028 to NN c. 70879 98001.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 7 April 2006.