Archaeology Notes

Event ID 745461

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/745461

NX65SE 63 69200 53347

Location formerly cited as NX 6920 5335.

Tongland Bridge [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1990.

Not to be confused with Tongland Old Bridge (NX 6969 5365), for which see NX65SE 89.

For corresponding former railway viaduct (adjacent to E), see NX65SE 69.

NMRS REFERENCE

Engineer: Thomas Telford

Alexander Nasmyth? designer - finished 1816

EXTERNAL REFERENCE:

National Gallery of Scotland - 2 drawings of designs by Alexander Nasmyth

(Undated) information in NMRS.

(Location cited as NX 692 533). Tongland Bridge: built in 1804-8, to the design of Telford, this replaced the older bridge (NX65SE 89) upstream. Smiles describes it as 'bold and picturesque', with its wide arch of 112ft [34.1m] span and six pointed arches (three on either side). Tongland is undoubtedly one of Telford's best Scottish bridges, built as it is at a very difficult site posing quite considerable engineering problems.

I Donnachie 1971.

(Location cited as NX 692 533). Tongland Bridge: built 1804-8, engineer Thomas Telford. An interesting structure, with a segmental arch of 112 ft (34.1m) span, flanked on either side by a semicircular 'cutwater', carried up to form a pedestrian refuge, and by three 6ft (1.83m) span pointed flood-relief arches. The parapet is corbelled out, and is castellated, and the voussoirs of the main span are rusticated.

J R Hume 1976.

Built 1804-8 by Thomas Telford.

J Gifford 1996.

Removed from scheduling list (former no. 3037).

Information from Historic Scotland, 5 March 1996.

This bridge carries the A711 public road over the River Dee at the head of its estuary, and a short distance below the power station NX65SE 86.00. The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Kirkcudbright (to the S) and Tongland (to the N).

The location assigned to this record defines the midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence suggests that it extends from NX c. 69188 53393 to NX c. 69208 53313.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 17 March 2006.