Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands
Date 2007
Event ID 882109
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/882109
The Bridge of Dun spans the South Esk at the west end of the Montrose Basin and was erected from June 1785 to January 1787. It was designed and built by Stevens whose use of classical ornamentation transformed the bridge from being a purely utilitarian structure. The contract price was £3128.
The bridge is symmetrical with three segmental arches, the centre span being 68 ft and the side spans 50 ft. At both ends of the bridge the roadway rises steeply from lowlying ground on embankments enclosed between masonry walls that are pierced by 20 ft span flood relief arches. The piers are carried on piled foundations, and the masonry above the bases of the abutments and piers was built solid across the structure to a height of 4 ft, above which the road, 18 ft wide, is carried on pends (arched or slabbed longitudinal cavities) along the length of the bridge. Theexternal masonry, the refuges above the piers and the approaches are constructed in dressed ashlar with decorative features.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007b
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
