Elvanfoot Suspension Bridge, South Lanarkshire

Date April 2012

Event ID 924637

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/924637

This light, single-span, wrought-iron rope and truss deck type suspension footbridge with a timber deck crosses the River Clyde some 3.0km south of Crawford. It is supported on each bank on the remaining piers of the now destroyed masonry bridge depicted and named ‘Old Bridge’ on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6-inch map (Lanarkshire, 1864, sheet XLVII) linking Newton House on the east bank to the village of Elvanfoot on the west bank.

The bridge has an overall span of about 40.0m (131 feet). The deck is 1.4m (4 feet 7 inches) in width. There are 19 sets of hangars suspended from two suspension cables. One back-stay on either side of the portals anchors the system to the bank, secured to concrete blocks further overlain by a concrete slab at the west end (see DP127252). The bridge portals are of lattice and cross-brace design with a finial above each cable saddle. The concrete flanking wall at the west end approach stairs is also probably from the 1920s.

The bridge is probably by David Rowell and Company of Westminster (1855-1970) fabricators of wrought iron and wire-rope suspension footbridges (whose name appears on the anchor stays (see DP 127254)). This bridge bears a striking resemblance to other Rowell bridges, especially Daly’s Bridge, Cork City, Eire (1927) and less so other Rowell examples including Porthill Bridge, Shrewsbury, Shropshire (1922) and the Bodie Creek Suspension Bridge, near Goose Green, Falkland Islands (built 1925 from a pre-fabricated kit).

This bridge is closed to pedestrians and so the east bank portal was not be accessed on the day of visit.

Visited by RCAHMS (MMD), April 2012.