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Banff, Banff Bridge
Road Bridge (19th Century)
Site Name Banff, Banff Bridge
Classification Road Bridge (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Bridge Of Banff; River Deveron; Old Market Place
Canmore ID 110832
Site Number NJ66SE 97
NGR NJ 69473 63779
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/110832
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Banff
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Banff And Buchan
- Former County Banffshire
NJ66SE 97 69473 63779
For (probably demolished) Bridge of Banff Lodge (to Duff House) at NJ 69378 63788, see NJ66SE 8.08.
For nearby discovery of Food Vessel Urn (NJ c. 696 637), see NJ66SE 28.
Banff Bridge [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map, 1977.
(Location cited as NJ 696 638). Bridge of Banff, built 1779 by engineer John Smeaton and widened 1881 by engineer John Willet. A seven-span bridge with dressed-stone arch rings, and rubble spandrels with oculi. The original arches have a smaller radius than those added during widening. Both area segmental.
J R Hume 1977.
The first bridge across the dangerous and unpredictable River Deveron (near Old Market Place) was completed in 1765 but was washed away only three years later. The relacement ferry boat was lost in 1773, and the new (present) seven-arched bridge with its blind baroque roundels was completed by John Smeaton in 1779. Access to the centre of the town is gained via Bridge Street.
C McKean 1990.
This bridge carries the A98 (T) public road across the River Deveron to the E of Banff (NJ66SE 45). The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Banff (to the W) and Gamrie (to the E).
The location assigned to this record indicates the apparent midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence indicates that it extends from NJ c. 69406 63773 to NJ c. 69544 63783.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 6 June 2006.
Construction (1881)
Bridge widened.
Publication Account (2007)
Banff Bridge
This attractive seven-arch segmental masonry bridge, with spans of 50 ft, carries the road between Macduff and Banff over the Deveron. It was the last of three large bridges in Scotland designed and built under the direction of John Smeaton who, in 1772, estimated its cost at £4548 14s 11d. The lowness of this figure was contributed to by ‘excellent rubble stone’ available ‘from a quarry very near the bridge’. Construction took seven years and it was completed in 1779. A contemporary drawing shows the piers founded on short timber piles.
The roadway of Smeaton’s bridge was originally 18 ft wide between parapets but in 1881 the bridge waswidened on both sides by the removal of the parapet walls and the construction of conjoined segmental arches of
larger radius. The decorative occuli used in the masonry of the spandrel walls of Smeaton’s bridge and the parapets were re-used. John Willet acted as the engineer for this work.
R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
Photographic Survey (14 March 2013)
Photographed on behalf of the Buildings of Scotland publications 2013-14.
