Archaeology Notes

Event ID 703258

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/703258

NS56NE 5 c. 5620 6634

Formerly entered as NS56NE 5.00.

For successor and replacement bridge (NS 56580 66449), see NS56NE 2294.

For present Partick Bridge (NS 56534 66433), see NS56NE 1080: this was formerly entered as NS56NE 5.01.

The old bridge over the River Kelvin was removed in 1895 by the Caledonian Railway Company to make way for the present iron structure. Its date of erection is unknown, though it was enlarged and repaired in 1577 (Taylor 1902). The bridge is shown on Napier's map (1873) as a distinct, straight continuation of Bridge Street, then called Old Dumbarton Road.

J Napier 1873; C Taylor 1902.

NS 5620 6634. No trace of this bridge can be seen.

Visited by OS (W M J) 17 August 1951.

James VI gifted the Archbishop's Mill to the local millers in 1568, and it was in connection with this mill that the first major Kelvin bridge was required, on the route of the original road from Glasgow to Dumbarton. Captain Crawford of Jordanhill was charged with its construction, but progress was slow, not being completed until 1577, by which date Crawford was Provost of Glasgow. The bridge was a four-arched stone structure, bearing his arms. It proved extremely beneficial to the Partick area, and was nearly doubled in width in the early 17th century, allowing two carts to cross at once.

D Boyce 1996.

This bridge formerly crossed the River Kelvin, which here forms the boundary between the parishes of Govan (to the N) and Glasgow (to the S). The location cited is that inferred for the centre of the span.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 1 December 2005.