Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Architecture Notes

Event ID 771253

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Architecture Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/771253

Engineers: Thomas Telford 1829

Designs by James Jardine (1825) & James Gillespie Graham (1828) not executed

Reference Scottish Magazine October 1932 - article

There are two coloured slides and one large photograph of Dean Bridge, missing at time of upgrade - 14.8.1997

NMRS REFERENCE

Plans: The City Architect's Plan Store, Drawer No 33, contains, among other drawings, a series stamped as the "Telford Bequest" and numbered as follows.:-

No 1297 "Plan shewing the situation between the Queensferry Road and the Dean Lands" signed by Telford 8.5.29. Shews the Toll House at the south west angle. Scale 1/1000 See NMRS EDD/73/1

No 1298 Cross and Longitudinal Sections, signed by Telford 8.5.29. Scale about 1 3/16 inches to one foot. See NMRS EDD/73/3

No 1299 Cross Section

No 1300 Lithographed general drawing including plan and elevation to Scale of 30 feet to 1 inch and Sections to scale of 15 feet to 1 inch, by Charles Atherton, Glasgow, April 1833. See NMRS EDD/73/4

No 1301 Elevation, sclae 1/2 inch to 10 feet, not as carried out.

No 1313 "Center" intended for the south arch, scale 1/4 inch to 1 foot

No 1314 "Center" intended for the three Northern arches, scale 1/4 inch to 1 foot.

No 1570 Original Drawing in sepia of "Design for a Bridge over the Water of Leith adjacent to the City of Edinburgh" by Thomas Telford, F.R.S., L.& E., President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. It is signed by Telford and dated London 8th May, 1829. Scale is 1 inch to 10 feet. The design shews a bridge of three arches. See NMRS EDD/73/2 and EDD/73/2/P for photographic copy. This is also catalogued as being called: 'Gloucester Bridge'.

NMRS Plans: Photostat copies of the drawings numbered 1297, 1298, 1300 and 1570. Nos 3/6 Diagram of heightened parapet and rail by A Rollo, 1948 in NMRS Historical File "Dean Bridge"

NMRS Historical File Dean Bridge

The Dean Bridge 'Spans the valley of the Water of Leith and now carries the heavy volume of traffic of the new Queensferry Road. It was completed in 1833 from the design of Thomas Telford, F.R.S., the contractors being John Gibb & Son of Aberdeen.

The total length of the Bridge is reckoned as 447 feet, and the roadway, 106 feet above the bed of the stream, is carried on four segmental arches, each of 90 feet span and springing from slender peirs. The whole width of the roadway is 39 feet between the parapets, the carriageway being now (1948) 23 feet in width and each footpath 8 feet. The main inner arches support the roadway, while the longer wing arches projecting 5 feet on each side, support the outer parts of the footpaths. It is said (Grant "Old and New Edinburgh") that the major part of the cost of the Bridge was borne by the then Lord Provost, John Learmonth of Dean, his interest being that his own property beyond the ravine of the river should be opened up for building development.

As early as 1885, as indicated by certain sketches in the custody of the City Architect, it was realised that the low height of the parapet wall on each side of the bridge constituted a danger as weak or misguided individuals, gazing down into the valley so far below, were impelled to precipitate themselves into the abyss - and that this danger must be averted. Eventually the parapet walls were raised by one course of stone, and the coping was replaced by one of the peculiar bulbous section surmounted by a rail studded with four-way decorative spikes.

When digging for the foundation of the North pier, several sepulchral urns were found. Wilson ("Memorials of Edinburgh" Vol. II. page 202) gives an illustration of one now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries.'

(Undated) information in NMRS.

People and Organisations

References