Archaeology Notes

Event ID 761470

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/761470

NX45SW 42 42463 54054

Not to be confused with Bladnoch Viaduct on the (former) Portpatrick Rly, for which see NX36SW 77.

For corresponding road bridge (to W), see NX45SW 33.

Bladnoch Viaduct: this viaduct carried the Wigtownshire Rly over the River Bladnoch to the S of the hamlet and distillery of the same name. The only major engineering structure on this line, it proved a costly construction, and comprised two spans of 69ft [21m] the iron lattice girders being set on a central pier of whinstone.

D L Smith 1969.

Lower Bladnoch Bridge: 1 mile SW of Wigtown Station, across River Bladnoch, 1 1/2 miles from its mouth. 2 girder spans on masonry abutments and central pier. Built 1875 by (contractor) John Granger: demolished.

C E J Fryer 1991.

This viaduct was opened on 12 March 1861. Its construction was rendered difficult by water beneath the foundations. The line closed on 14 June 1965.

M Smith 1994.

This bridge formerly carried the Whithorn branch of the Glasgow and South-Western Rly. across the River Bladnoch in the Wigtownshire Machars. The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Wigtown (to the N) and Kirkinner (to the S). It had evidently been demolished by the date of survey of the current 1:10,000 map.

The location assigned to this record defines the midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence suggests that it extends from NX c. 42478 54071 to NX c. 42426 53997. What be the stub-end of the structure appears to span a public road (Creek Road) to the SW of the river.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 16 March 2006.